Cageing Frost
by Grey-Skye-eyes
Summary: Stevie believes in Jack Frost, Jamie decides to intoduce the two. Soon a friendship arises, but when Stevie's family tells him their moving to a more heated town his fear of losing Jack brings Pitch back, and the chance to get even with Jack is to much for him to resist. Pitch gives the boy a gift that could spell Jack's Doom. Will the other Guardian's be able to find Jack in time?
1. Chapter 1

*~~~~Prologue~~~~*

Little Stevie Johnson was one of the few true believers of Jack Frost, the Winter Spirit of Fun. Stevie's grandfather use to tell him tales of how Jack Frost would nip the noses of all girls and boys who would venture out into the snow. Although, most people deemed him to be nothing more than a silly old Codger telling tall tells. Stevie was so not so sure; enticed by his grandfather's stories he would often stay up late just to watch the snow fall. Slowly but surely doubt started to ebb its way into his mind, but that all changed when little Jamie Bennet showed up at their school one morning. He was boasting loudly about how he and his friends spent the night battling the Boogieman alongside Jack Frost, Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy. Stevie listened to Jamie even after most kids laughed and turned away from the silly boy. Jamie saw Stevie leaning practically off his chair with excitement as he told his story. After spending an entire month of passing notes and chatting about the frozen trickster Jamie told Stevie to meet up with him afterschool at the park. He thought it was about time to introduce Stevie to Jack and Jack to someone else who believed in him. Thought this meeting was going to bring about a new friend ship, it would also start a chain of events that no one would see coming.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Meeting

Jack sat upon a branch high above the frozen lake in Burgess waiting eagerly for the afternoon to come. It has been almost a month since he has helped the Guardians defeat Pitch (more like they helped him hee-hee) and he found it high time to get back into the routine of things. Normally, he would have caused a snow day and spent the whole afternoon with the kids he cherished so much. Running into Jamie early that morning had him changing his tune however. Jamie told him that if he held off on the snow day till tomorrow they could have an extended weekend and with it more time to hang out with him. The thought of spending an entire weekend and not just a single day with the kids made him chuckle loudly.

A small twig snapped in the distance and Jack sprung to his feet instantly. Fighting Pitch may have saved the children in the world but it made the Spirit slightly jumpy, which he figured would eventually fade with time.

Floating down from his seat Jack moved cautiously towards the direction of the noise his staff raised high and his senses working on overdrive. Just as he was preparing to jump through the brush a loud crack echoed throughout the woods. Spinning quicker than lighting Jack faced towards the lake from which the sound originated. Shock plastered its self to his pale white face as he took in the sight before him. One short pudgy pale skinned black haired boy not much older than 10 was standing on the lakes edge staring straight at Jack. He held in his hands a foot long stick that had shattered upon the ice form the obvious contact that he had just made with it. Behind him stood Jacks favorite little boy Jamie, a look of pure horror upon his face at what the younger boy had just done.

The Frosty Spirits emotions went through a torrent of emotions in the span of just a few seconds. At first Jack was frightened that someone had fallen into the lake; which no that he thought of it was impossible because he made sure that this particular lake would never melt. Then he was angry that someone was trying to break the lakes icy surface and it was a child none the less, but knowing the mischief side of children that emotions blew away as the next took its place. Jake was very concerned and feeling protective of Jamie. That boy was never to look afraid around when he was around, and for whatever reason the boy that stood in front of him has made him show an emotion that he didn't care to see.

"What on Earth are you DOING?!" Jack Shouted abruptly.

"Ohmygoshheactuallyspoketomej amiedidyouherethat?!" the boy squealed.

Jamie taking this moment to regain his composure looked at Jack as he floated over to them, his staff gripped tightly in his right hand.

"Jack I am soooooooooooooo sorry! I didn't know he was going to do that to your lake. When he saw you standing there he just kind of wigged out!" Jamie squeaked.

Upon a closer look of the boy Jack could tell that the little jokester was practically bubbling with excitement. All the tension that Jack had unknowingly built up seeped to just dissipate in that moment. "Kids" he huffed/chuckled brushing his white hair from his eyes.

"I can't believe it! Jack Frost…You're The Jack Frost!"

Upon hearing his now 'favorite sentence' Jack stood up tall and beamed at the young boy, "You can see me kid?" he asked.

"Of Course I can see you, I would be crazy if I didn't see my favorite character of all time!" the boy.

"What's your name kiddo?" Jack asked kneeling down to the Childs level.

"Stevie!" The boy practically belched out, Jamie just shook his head and Jack smiled his signature smile.

"Say Stevie how would you like to have a snow ball fight?" Jack questioned as he scooped up a hand full of snow with his free hand.

Jamie and Stevie exchanged glances to one another before turning on their heels and running as fast as they could for cover. Jack smirked deviously as he floated high into the tress looking down at his un-expecting victims.

"Where did he go?" Stevie whispered to Jamie as they scooped up large handfuls of snow.

"I don't know but keep your head UP if you know what I mean."Jamie giggle

Catching the other boys que they both shifted their body weight back and flung the snow as hard as they could above them. What should have resulted in a rather humors impact on the Winter Spirit ended up resulting in a rather beautiful display of gravity. The snow came right back down into their own faces which caused Jack to fall out of the tree he was hiding in laughing. He couldn't have planned that better himself even if he had tried.

Both boys stood dumbfounded in the snow, as they heard the echoing laughter of the mischievous Spirit. What seemed like a good idea to them turned out to be a really bad idea, for not only did they not even come close to hitting Jack Frost, they ended up frosting themselves in the process.

The three of them placed in the forest late into the evening, but as the sun began to set Jack sent the two children back to their homes knowing that school was going to be canceled and they would meet up again tomorrow.

Jack Frost may have not been expecting to meet another believer today but he was sure that the boy was going to be one of his biggest believers.


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to say thanks to those of you who have read and like my story thus far, I hope I don't disappoint you in this next installment. I am going to try to update this story at least once a day if at all possible. Also I love reviews, if you have any ideas or just feel like being goofy I am all for it.

DISCLAIMER- I don't own any Rise of the Guardian characters-only Stevie and his family.

Chapter 2: Dreams of Truth

Silence filled the dark streets as snowflakes drifted softly towards the earth. It was a peaceful night as all the children laid warm and safe in their beds. Lingering high above the city streets casting his spell of dreams was none other than the Sandman. Gracefully he poured his magic sand through frost covered windows, each grain dancing to a silent tune. This ballet in the sky stretched the length of the city insuring no child would miss out on its warmth. Well, as warm as you can get on a snowy day in May.

Now for some people the thought of snow in May is ridiculous, just ask E. Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), he would swear it was wrong on every level. Jack however knew better than anyone how the winter weather should be; therefore he continued to spread his frosty joy to the world. Sandy on the other hand had a different opinion. He found the way the snow mixed with the dream sand to be a fascinating spectacle to behold. Shimmering blue flakes and golden pebbles guided each other to their perspective destinations. With the chill hitting the children before the sand did it allowed them to snuggle deeper into their blankets and further into their own imaginations.

Soaking up the sight before him Sandy almost missed spotting his friend and fellow Guardian hopping from power line to power line. Knowing his fellow guardians childish ways it is easy to see why Jack liked the dream sand more than the others did. Taking the chance to amuse his friend Sandy sent a small dose of sand in his direction. Almost immediately Jack Frost had begun to play with the sands, laughing aloud as they started to take various shapes.

"Sandy! You're right on schedule as always, how has everything been?" Jack waved as he spotted the golden Guardian above him.

Sandy placed many symbols above his head in rapid succession, each one a little more complex than the other until he finally just settled on a giant checkmark above his head.

Jack gave a half smile as he shook his head, "so in other words same old same old?"

Sandy smiled warmly at Jack but then looked slightly puzzled. Catching his look Jack glanced around for what could have caused the sudden shift in mood.

"What's wro-"before he could finish Sandy pointed toward a small house in the distance. The window was wide open and a small blue light illuminated the darkness from within. The sand streams passed through the window but the movement within did not subside. Jack looked at Sandy who shrugged his shoulders while drifting towards forward.

It was odd to see a window wide open this late at night, it had to be midnight at least. Not to mention it was snowing quite a bit thanks to Jack. So to say that they were curious would be a rather big understatement.

Sneaking up to the window like two naughty children trying not to be caught the cautiously peered inside. That had expected the movement to be the result of an animal or some sort of night light, not Stevie Johnson. The boy was sitting on the floor holding a flashlight in his lap while making shadow puppets on his wall.

"Hey kiddo what are you doing on the floor when you should be in bed?" Jack whispered. Sandy ducked under the window seal and pouted at Jack as the boy turned to face them.

"Hey there Jack!" the boy whispered right back. "How did you find my room?"

"You left your window open while we-I was drifting by. Thought I would take a see who left it open, didn't expect to see you awake though. Is there anything wrong?"

Stevie shook his head back and forth before holding up the flash up to the wall once again. Jack could tell that the boy was hiding something from him so he decided to push the subject a little further.

"So why are you making puppets on your wall rather than laying in bed, there are some wonderful dreams just waiting for you." He asked stealing a glance at Sandy.

"I don't feel like sleeping that's all." He mumbled.

Confused Jack pulled himself up through the window and into the room, "Don't want to sleep huh? Then is there something else you want to do?"

Stevie hearing the question began to radiate with happiness "Well what I really want to do is go outside and play in the snow! We could build a fort and have a snowball fight!" Jack thought about it for a moment and seriously considered it until he spotted Sandy outside, little sand pictures of Jack putting the boy into bed played in a constant repeat mode over his head.

"Sorry Stevie I wish we could but I still got a lot of work to do if I am going to have enough snow on the ground for your school to close down. Besides the sooner you get to bed the sooner tomorrow will come and we can play then!"

Stevie huffed loudly and turned off the light. Jack knew the boy just wanted to play, but he also knew that Sandy was trying to do what was best for the boy. However instead of going to bed the boy went to the window and peered over the edge. There was a long silent pause and then the boy finally started speaking again.

"Jack, if I was to move away from here would you still come to see me?"

Leaning onto his staff and Jack stared at the boy trying to understand what he was getting at, rather than waiting for an explanation he decided to answer honestly.

"Of Course, why wouldn't I go see you?" just as Jack finished his sentence the boy was already throwing his arms around the spirits waist.

Stumbling slightly and taken aback by the sudden change of attitude Jack stared wide eyed at the boy. "Stevie?"

"I don't want to lose you Jack I just became friends with you!" he mumble into Jack's blue frost covered hoodie.

"Lose me? Listen Stevie, I am going to tell you something I told Jamie a while ago. Even if you can't see me doesn't mean that I'm not there. You don't stop believing in the sun just because the clouds block it out do you? (the boy shook his head) then you should believe that even if one of us goes away our friendship is still there. I'll come see you when you move, and heck if you ever want to find me just look for a snow storm and you know I'll be there!"

The speech Jack gave seem to put away whatever doubt and worry that was on the boy's mind at that moment for he pealed himself off of the spirit and crawled ever so reluctantly into his car shaped bed. Jack moved the blankets up to his chest as he settled in and gave the boy a soft smile.

"Get some sleep Stevie and tomorrow we will play." With that being said Jack sprung through the window and drifted down to Sandy's side. The Spirit of dreams gave him a thumbs up and launched a ball of dream sand into the boys room. Hearing the change in the boys breathing they were sure he had finally fallen asleep.

Each of them nodded to one another and drifted on the wind in different directions. Jack road the wind to his lake for the night where he would concentrate on making a soft warm snow. Sandy road his sands towards the next town where more kids awaited his calming touch. Though something felt off to him as he left the town, almost like he was missing something, it was the same felling you would get if you forgot to turn off a light or lock a door. Stealing one last glance behind him he pushed forward, hoping that he was just over worked.

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	3. Chapter 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone out there! I am just taking a second to say thank you for everyone who reads the story thus far. It took me longer to write this one, I hope you all enjoy this next installment; I=(^.^)= Also, this is going to be a long chapter but bear with me it will be worth it. So without further ado…

DISCLAIMER- I don't own any Rise of the Guardian characters-only Stevie and his family.

Chapter 3: Snowballs and Day-mares

Sun rays flowed over the horizon and crept through the trees towards their target. Upon reaching his pale form they caressed his skin and beckoned him to greet the day. Jack stirred from the contact of the sun and opened his eyes. Crisp morning air filled his lungs causing a yawn to slip from his lips. He didn't remember falling asleep that night, in fact he didn't remember when it was that he slept last. Being a spirit sleep was more of a past time rather than a requirement, so usually he only did it on odd occasions. (Such as: being over works, overheated, ambushed by Sandy after a trick gone wrong, or just plain board out of his mind) Figuring that hanging out with Sandy had something to do with his sudden unexpected nap he began to chuckle. It looks like today was going to be an exciting day after all.

Alarm systems started going off around the town and Jack knew what was about to fallow. Parents would stumble out of their beds, ready themselves for the day and then proceed to awaken their children. Every single one of them will go through the motions of being a normal day; that is until they witness the handy work that is Jack Frost.

Just thinking about the different looks on all of the children's faces when they would hear that school was canceled made him gitty. No, it made him down right ecstatic! A wide grin spread across his face he sat there in his tree over the lake. What would he do first? Should he go over to Jamie's to get him for an early morning flight? Or perhaps he would wait for Cupcake to walk out her door and chase her with a tiny snowman! No wait, what if he went and placed a load of snow over Stevie's door that would fall the moment he shut the door. The possibilities were endless and there were so many that he wanted to try, after all it's so much more fun to do now that he was believed in.

Ten minutes later and after a lot of internal debate he had settled on an idea that he deemed to be the most worthy of his brilliance. Wrapped his legs around the branch he lend backwards until he hung completely upside down. In one swift and graceful moment he releases his grip and his body fell to the unforgiving earth. His eyes closed and he took in the rush of the free fall knowing all too well that he was perfectly safe. Before he made contact with the ground the wind caught his body and flung him high into the air.

Laughter echoed off the tress as he embraced the breeze, "Wind, what you say we give these kids a snow day to remember?"

As if responding to his enthusiasm the wind quickened, whipping him along its current at an intense speed. Within seconds he was the parks edge just outside Jamie's house. He could tell by the amount of lights that was on inside that they were awake and getting ready. That was his cue to start working on his master plan and oh how they would be surprised.

***30 Minutes later***

Voices of children rang through the park as Jamie meet up with his friends at the entrance. Jamie and Stevie were shoving each other around trying to gain the upper with the hopes one would fall into the snow. Caleb and Claude were bickering over who was going to be hit first by one of Jacks snowballs, while Cupcake was busy dragging the other two reluctant kids through the snow. They were so involved in their own conflicts that they had not realized the mounds of snow that began to form around them blocking off their entrances and exits.

It wasn't until Jamie was hit by a random snowball did any of them break away from what they were doing. Each of them glanced around them to discover that they were surrounded with snow drifts. Some were smaller than others and some had weird holes through their banks. Each kid took a moment to try and process when all that snow got there.

"Oh Jaaa-mieee….," a voice drawled out breaking the silence.

The kids turned to witness a sight they were not expecting. There above the farthest snow mound was Jack Frost hovering ever so peacefully, his head down and arms hanging limply by his sides. Jamie's eyes squinted as his head tilted, "Jack?"

It was then that Jacks head shot up a devious smile plastered upon his face. Behind him an army of cute little snowmen no bigger than a football came into view, each of them held a snow ball equivalent to their size in front of them. Each snow ball contained one of seven colors: Blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, and black.

The kids were wide eyed with amazement and confusion. Seeing this Jack began to laugh and twirl his staff up to his shoulder.

"Okay kiddies, it's time for a little game. The goal is to catch one of these little snow men that are holding a color similar to your jacket. Once you have some of your snowballs it becomes a free for all. Don't worry about running out though, once you've caught a snowman he will keep getting more snowballs until the game is over. But watch out the snowmen may change colors on you!"

Excitement blew through the kids like a wave, Jack lifted his staff and they all hunkered down giggling. Oh how they couldn't wait to start the game that Jack had made for them. He left his arm in the air making the suspense continue until finally he shouted. "Go!"

Jamie and Stevie were the first ones to reach their perspective snow men first. Jamie's snowman held blue snowballs and Stevie's held black. The two looked at each other they weren't even a foot apart when both of them planted a snow ball into the face of the other. Cupcake picked her little pink snowball and through it straight at Monty. Poor Monty who had just found his yellow snowmen was to slow to avoid the attack. Pippa _(is that her name or was that the name of Jacks sister? Forgive me I can't remember!*tear)_ had found two of her purple snowballs just in time to pelt Caleb and Claude making them drop their orange and green balls.

Jack stared at the kids with satisfaction, who know adding a little food coloring to snowflakes could make such a fun game. He just hopes that North dose not realize all of his food dies have gone missing because of him.

Taking a snow ball into his own hand he blew softly into it giving it a little bit of a magical kick before pegging Stevie in the back. Well it was suppose to be the back, but the poor boy ducked trying to avoid one snowball just to be smacked with another one.

Stevie turned dazed and laughing to Jack whose face was scrunched in a 'my bad' sort of expression. Stevie smirked and tapped on Jamie's shoulder, when the boy glanced at him he nodded to Jack and then at the snow ball in his hand. Jamie caught his drift, unfortunately so did Jack.

Jack floated around the park boisterously laughing as all the kids have know turned on him each one of them trying to get the one up. Frost had to hand it to them they were getting inventive with new ways to surprise him. Caleb had almost caught him by hiding up in a tree while Claude had him distracted on the ground.

The game continued for hours until finally they all wore themselves down and had to go inside to warm up and eat lunch. Jack couldn't help but snicker as he imagined the shocked faces of their parents as they walk into their homes covered in various dyes. Stevie lingered behind to talk with Jack however.

"That game was awesome, when did you come up with that?

Jack stood tall and in the most confident voice he could and simple said, "This morning"

Stevie couldn't believe it, a game that looked like it took hours of planning was though up in a single morning. "You mean to tell me that from the time I saw you last night to early this morning you came up with that?"

Jack shook his head and looked at the kid with a crooked smile, "No I came up with it really only a little bit before you all arrived this morning."

"And the color dyes?" he asked skeptically

"Oh, yeah I got them from North a while ago. I was planning on using them for a prank against Bunny but this seemed like a better use for them."

"Bunny? North? Who are they?"

Jack looked puzzled, surely the kid knew of the other guardians, "You know…uh… you call them Santa Clause and Easter Bunny?"

"You know them personally?!" Stevie asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I'm a guardian as well, why wouldn't I know them. I mean we are like a really weird family and all." Frost commented nonchalantly. He really didn't understand why this kid didn't know all this already. He was sure that Jamie said he had told Stevie about all them when they first started hanging out.

"Wow…Jack Frost…and the other legendary figure heads…all of them together in one place at one time." The boy said with a far off look. "Do you guys hang out often, like do y'all have dinner together and such?"

Jack sighed and softened his gaze, "well no, we get together when we have free time really. I'm the freest really. I have no real obligations when pent up to those guys. In a way I'm kind of like the classic rebel, avoiding all that serious work and getting in their way once in a while. I hang with North but his been busy lately with the Yeti's. I joke and race with bunny when he is not busy yelling at eggs. Let's see, Tooth is hard to hang with, if she isn't personally in the field she like a drill sergeant at the palace. I can't tell you how many times I stopped by for a chat and she went total a.d.d on me. One minute she's fawning over my teeth and the next she's yelling about some kids tooth in Denmark. Sandy's a lot of fun thou, he doesn't talk like normal people do but he's my best friend. We try to hang out a little each night. But if I had to say I guess we don't hang out as much as I'd wish. But hey I still have fun nonetheless" Before he realized it he was just talking randomly and Stevie was just staring up at him soaking in every word he said.

Feeling suddenly awkward Jack coughed and started looking around at nothing in particular. "Didn't…didn't Jamie say anything to you about the others?"

Stevie shoved his hands in his pockets and looked far off into the distance, "Yeah, he did. I just thought at first he was just exaggerating to get my attention. I know that's not the case now but I had my doubts. I mean I understanding seeing on being of legend but I never heard of so many being in seen in the same spot at the same time before."

"You've heard of all of us before Jamie? That means you have heard of me before all of this? Who told you?" Jack asked clearly interested.

Stevie brushed his shaggy bangs out of his eyes and looked to Jack, "My Grandpa of course. He is a wise man, even though everyone else says he is just weird. But I know the truth is that he knows a lot more than people give him credit for."

Jack could swear that for a moment he saw a flash of…rage? Was this boy really upset about that? Jack wanted to ask but he felt out of place, he didn't retrieve all of his memories, and even if he did the time he spent without a family made it hard to understand what others go through. So he took a different approach.

"So you're grandpa ever tell you how he knew I was real?"

"Of course, he said that he was sitting outside his dad's house when his brother said that Jack Frost was a spirit who makes the world white. He told me how he waited out in a blizzard one day to see the spirit, but got lost on his way home. He claimed a pale young man appeared in the distance and lead him to his hose by way of moving the snow in front of him. He said the boy acted as if he didn't see him, but he knew that the he was there."

Jack was at a loss, he vaguely remembered helping a young boy many years ago, but he didn't think anything about it at the time. Oh if only he know that the boy had seen him, wait that can't be true.

"How was he sure that it wasn't just some village teen helping him out?" jack asked.

He smirked, "because he said he never knew of a boy that would walk around bare foot in snow like it was nothing, let alone float."

Jack wanted to just face palm right then and there. If what he was hearing was true, then there could be other people out there who had may believe in him that he never even knew about. But, deep down he knew that wasn't right. Stevie's grandpa may have believed at the time, but something about the story just seemed off.

Jack was brought back to his thoughts when Stevie bumped his arm roughly, "My mom is calling me I have to go" he said holding up his cell phone. Jack nodded and watched as the boy ran off yet again leaving Jack wondering, just who was this kid.

*** At Stevie's House***

Stevie ran into his house with a smile plastered on his face, his day was just getting started and already it was off to a good start. That was until he glanced around the rooms of his house. Each room was filled with boxes steadily being filled with all of their possessions. He had completely forgotten that he was moving tomorrow, and he still hasn't told anyone about. This was just like all the other times he had to move. Without any reason given his parents would just start packing their things up with a new destination in mind.

Stevie wasn't even sure what it was that his family did that made them move so much. Should he be proud or ashamed, happy or sad? He was never really sure because his family never explained it. It was for that reason that Stevie had never really cared about making friend before. It just brought back all those memories again and he didn't like it. He didn't mind the new house or place, but it was always the new…friends…that made him feel so agitated. Always having to reintroduce, and learn new things the process was becoming too much of a hassle. If only he could have a friend that he could take with him. Yeah, a friend that could go anywhere and be anywhere you were. Stevie smiled to himself as he made his way to his room where his mom was packing his things. Yeah, this time going to be different. Stevie just knew it would be.

****Somewhere in a dark cavern****

Evil laughter echoed through the cave shafts of an empty cavern, the reverberations enhancing its eeriness. "Well well well, it would seem that there is a powerful little fear growing up top. I wonder what such a beautiful fear would blossom into…if given a push."

Silence filled the chasm once again as the shadow started to make its move. It was headed top side and no one is aware that its bringing revenge with it.


	4. Chapter 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, so here is the next installment. I hope you all enjoy it took a while to come up with the perfect into for Pitch. I wanted to thank those of you who reviewed. It's helped motivate me and keep me coming up with new ideas for all of you to enjoy. Also a thanks to blackkyu, I didn't know that was happing. I'll be sure to double check my work. If I have spelling errors I must apologize, late night writing after all day of work isn't the best of ideas but hey what can I say. When your muse hits you your trapped, now without more blathering it's time to begin.

DISCLAIMER- I don't own any Rise of the Guardian characters or any quotes like the tile (inspired by Nightmare before Christmas)-I only Stevie and his family.

Chapter 4: Then Mister Oogie-Boogie Man Can Take the Whole Thing Over Than…

Creeping like the shadow he was Pitch made his way through the streets of Burgess with one goal in mind. Find the fear that filled his senses and make it grow. Street lights flickered as he passed by them in but he didn't care. In fact he would have been more pleased if they would just blow out completely, but he knew his powers should not be wasted on something so insignificant. No, right now there was a child who needed corrupting.

House after house was filled with sleeping children but none of them held fear of him. Peering into a random window he scoffed loudly, the sight had repulsed him to no end. Two children spelt warm and safe in their beds with little golden images dancing over the heads. If only he could reach in to the room and spread a little fear into the mix.

Whining from one of his nightmares broke him from his thoughts. "You're right my dear, we have bigger dreams to smash," and with that he proceeded forward.

It wasn't much longer that he stumbled upon the small house where the fear was located. Gliding along the walls and into the dark bedroom he located a small child in his bed. Pitch stepped out of the darkness and approached the bed slowly. His eyes settled upon the boy's face which was contorted in a sort of pained expression. Tears feel gently down his check and seeped into the pillow below his head. A smirk found its way to Pitches lips as he lifted his head to star at the sand images above the boys head.

"Now what do we have here? Playing along with your friends and is that Jack Frost I see?" he mused as he stole another glance and the boy. "How happy you seem in these sands but I wonder." Lowering himself over the sands Pitch watched on as the images danced and played on. Reaching out his hand he placed a single grey finger over the Jack figure. With one swift motion he taped the image and black sand intertwined with gold.

Jacks figure was encased in a small black cage and all the children except the boy himself had dissipated. Jacks little figure squirmed against the cage while the little boy picked up a small black key. Pitch watched on expecting the boy to run to the Guardians aid where Pitch would make it impossible to do. However what had next shocked Pitch tremendously. Instead of trying to help the spirit the boy pocketed the key and sat down before cage like nothing was wrong.

Baffled the spirit of fear looked down at the boys face to once again be surprised. This small child was not cowering at the touch of fear, he was embracing it! A small smile had replaced his frown and his tears had all but stopped flowing. This child was actually happier with Pitch's nightmare than with the happy dream that little sandbag had given him.

Pitch stood up and glanced back and forth between the boy and the nightmare above him. His yellow eyes narrowed and his lips parted into a smile that showed all of his pointy teeth, "Oh my dear boy, what a wonderful child you are for showing me this."

Turning toward the window Pitched raised his hands into the air, his head thrown back in to a deep and hearty laughter. "Let's see if I can't help your dream come true." Stealing a glance behind him he whispered to his now favorite child. "Rest up little Stevie, you're going to have a big day tomorrow."

Leaping out the window Pitch glided up to the sky fallowed by his now stronger nightmares, but before the boy's dream could come true he had to pay his favorite Guardian a little visit.

***At Lake Burgess***

Jack sneezed harshly and shook his head as a cold sensation ran down his spine, what an odd sensation to have when you were a Winter Spirit. Gliding along the ice of his lake he decided that tonight he would simply enjoy this cloudless night.

Even though the man in the moon did not speak to Jack he knew he was there watching him. He would always light up the lake with his rays to make it glisten on nights like these. Jack had come to appreciate the little gesture; it was about all he expected Manny to do after all. True he would have liked more but at least he was getting something out of him, so he didn't push the matter.

Jack was so involved with what he was doing that he didn't notice the nightmares that were forming around him, but Manny did and he wasn't happy. Manny's shine dimmed and the lakes brilliance began to fade. Jack looked up to the sky puzzled at the sudden change in atmosphere. It was then that he felt something off about the surrounding woods.

"Enjoying yourself Frost?" a voice broke the silence, an all too familiar and unwelcomed voice that is.

"Well I was, but I can't say that I much like the company." He retorted raising his staff ready to strike if need be.

"So eager to fight and I haven't even said what I came here for. My Jack your manners are quite terrible."

Jack twisted his lips into a smirk and continued to look around for the invisible enemy, "Well what can I say; you don't call or write anymore I started to think you didn't like me."

Pitch appeared out of the shadows and rolled eyes, "As sarcastic and juvenile as always I see."

Jack shrugged his shoulders "Well you're no looker yourself." Pitch sighed deeply and placed his head into his hand his other arm drifting behind his back. "Really Jack…"

Even though the two of them bantered back and forth like old friend, neither one of them dropped their guard. They circled each other at a slow pace each waiting for the other to do something stupid.

"Perhaps I should get back to the reason why I am here, shall we?"

"Yah, why are you Pitch. I thought you were going to I don't know migrate or something."

"Migrate? What the Hell Frost is that really the best you could do?"

Jack paused for a second and then nodded, "Never though id need an insult, not with you all cowering in a corner and all. I make it a policy to not kick a guy when he is down."

"What are you doing now?" Pitch motioned between the two of them. "Well you don't look so down to me at the moment, now why are you here."

"Oh yes we do keep getting of topic, but if you must know I 'm here to give you a little bit of friendly information. As one out cast to another sort of speak."

"I highly doubt that."

Ignoring the retort Pitch continues, "You should really trust me on this one Frost, you are in a world of trouble and you don't even know it."

"Oh yeah, how so?"

Pitched stopped circling the lake and looked at Jack with feign kindness, "It harsh of the Guardians not to tell you this, and was sure that they would have."

The Young spirit could tell that there was something he wasn't getting, but he wasn't about to let the older one have the satisfaction of knowing it. Pitch wasn't fooled however and thus continued his speech.

"Have you ever heard of over-believers?" Jack said nothing. "It's pitiful really, to have such a thing happen to a child."

Hearing this Jack stiffened and raised his staff, "What did you do?"

"Why I did nothing, if anybody had a hand in this it would be you."

Jack was taken aback at the accusation thrown his way, his grip loosened on his staff and his shoulders dropped, "You had better start making yourself clear."

"_Jack_ you have never really been believed in before this point in time so I am not the least bit surprised that you didn't know. You have always thought there were only two forms of children: those who believed and those who didn't. What you were not privy to was the third form of child that lingers out there. This type of believer is called the over-believer and they can be dangerous."

"Wait so first you say that it's horrible to not be believed in; _which I know,_ and now you are saying that being believed is just as bad. In the words of bunny 'you aren't being very convincing here mate'."

"Oh being believed in is wondrous there is no doubt about that, but to be over-believed in can be just as bad as not being believed in at all." Pitch leaned against a tree and plucked some sand off his sleeve and flicked it away waiting to see what Jack would say next. Just as he suspected the boy was looking down trying to process what it was he was being told.

"Let me explain this in simpler terms since you aren't quite grasping this." Summoning black sand to come forward Pitch formed a little box in the shape of a present. "Take Christmas and that belly–full-of-jelly North for example. Children who don't believe in him tend to get presents from just their parents and loose the real wonder of the season. Children who believe in him however area rewarded with wonder and gifts from both their parents and him. Children who over believe however will only except gifts from Santa and will eventually result in receiving nothing. They become a threat to not only the spirits but to themselves. These are the kids that start laying traps and cameras out, rather than sleeping in their beds like they should."

"Kids stay up all the time in hopes to catch a glimpse of the man, that's just normal behavior for a kid." Jack protested rather unconvincingly.

"Do you really believe that?" Pitch remarked back just as quickly. "Tell me have you ever seen the Guardians spend as much time with children as you, or at all in fact? No, you don't because they watch them from afar and help them when they are asleep. Strange isn't it that people who are supposed to be so found of kids don't actually spend time with them?"

"They said it was because they were too busy…" Jack whispered just loud enough for Pitch to catch it.

"Yeah, I bet they did. However I know the truth, they just wanted to avoid thinking that such children even exist. Tell me Jack, you haven't seen any of these children have you? Because I think that you may be in danger with as much as you have been with them. I'll tell you what, out of the kindness of my heart I will help you prevent such a thing from happening with those kids you care for so dearly."

There it was Jack thought steadying himself, the real reason that Pitch came here. He wanted something and he was about to let it be know, "I suppose you're hopping that if I agree with this ridiculous little concept that you are looking for something in return?"

Pitch Black had to hand it to the kid, he was sharp and surprisingly less gullible as he would have hoped but nonetheless he has already fallen into phase one of his trap. "I will give these kids a small taste of fear, just enough so they will not become over possessive of you. In return you will let me have free reign to do as I please without interference from you or the other Guardians."

Jack practically burst out laughing at the absolutely ridiculously request. "What makes you think I would even consider such an outrageous offer?! I got to tell you, you really had me going there, but now I see what you're after and I'm sorry but no deal."

Pitches kind expression vanished and his head tilted forward so his eyes were barely visible. He knew Jack would never go for it, but that was all part of his plan. "I gave you a second chance to join me Jack, and again you rebuff me. I came here to warn you, but I see I am falling on deaf ears. So I'll tell you what we will have a little fun. I'll give you one day to find the child weather he be girl or boy, young or old that I speak of. If you don't find them by day's end then I will personally make sure that there obsessive ways become your downfall and trust me Jack _you don't want that."_

Just as Pitch finished his last word Jack had leapt forward, his staff raised in a position to strike. However he never reached his target for all the nightmares that had surrounded earlier converged on him. Knocked to the ground Jack hit his head hard, as his vision began to black out he could just barely hear Pitch laughing in the distance. It was then he knew this wasn't a game, this was challenge and Pitch was aiming to win.


	5. Chapter 5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay y'all sorry about the lateness of my update. I was kidnapped for Christmas shopping for the last few days and haven't had the chance to really get to this. Now are you all ready, well let us go forward!

Please R & R

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Rise of the Guardians, I only own Stevie, his family, and Marisa.

Chapter 5: A Race Against the Clock

"…-ke up…" a small voice called out in the distance tiny, frail and almost inaudible

Jack tried to ignore the voice that pulled at his conscious mind he did not feel like waking up just yet. His head was killing him and all he wanted to do at that moment was sleep away his headache. He would have succeeded in doing so if it wasn't for that nagging voice.

"please…" the voice spoke again, but this time it caught his attention. There was something oddly familiar about this voice, like he has heard it before. "JACK! Please wake up!"

When the voice called to him again Jack all but forgot his headache and forced his eyes to open where he was almost immediately blinded by bright sunlight. Jack put his hands up to his face to block the annoying sun beams when a soft breeze brushed against his face before swirled around his hand.

"So it was you who was calling me." Jack whispered to the wind. Gently the breeze began to lift him off the ground. It was slow and easing going as if it was waiting to see if he would fight back. Jack chuckled at the winds attempts to move him without his acknowledgement. Usually the wind could easily move the boy without any effort at all, unless he was being stubborn (or unconscious) then the wind would find it almost impossible to lift him without tremendous force.

"Alright old friend I am awake you can stop now." He whispered, but the wind was not letting up in fact it was getting stronger. "What is with you, it's not like I have any where…" then it hit him. Like a movie in fast forward all the memories of the previous night flashed before him.

Anger swelled in his chest before panic took its place. When he had last seen Pitch it was midnight but by the suns position in the sky it was clearly noon which means he had lost a lot of valuable time. Confused was an understatement as to what he was feeling at this moment. Jack knew everyone of the kids he played with very well, he couldn't just start suspecting them of being evil because of what Pitch had said. It wasn't in the spirit of fun to start being suspicious and wary of your friends, and thus not a part of Jack.

What he really wanted to do right now was call out to the other guardians and inform them of what was going on, but without a fancy gadget or minion to send out a distress call the thought was all but crushed. Any hope of finding the kid in time while also traveling to the pole and back was defiantly not an option so he did the next best thing.

Frustrated at his shrinking time and lack of accomplishment he decided that the best place to start at would be Jamie's house. That kid was smart and one of his best friends, he trusted him just as much as he trust the other Guardians. Therefore if anyone could help him solve this puzzle it was that boy.

****1:25 p.m. Jamie's house****

Jamie sat at the kitchen table doing his homework rather begrudgingly when a slight tapping sound pulled him out of his homework induced trance. His eyes rolled over the room with curiosity until they landed on the glass window near the backdoor.

A pale face was plastered to the glass and his eyes were squinting in an attempt to make out the inside of the house. Jamie knew it was Jack Frost, but if he didn't know better than he would swear that he was a prowler. Jamie took a glance at his mother who was in the kitchen and not but a few feet away from the window Jack was at. It was times like these that he was thankful that she couldn't see his friend.

Sneaking out from the dining room Jamie put his shoes on and opened up the back door careful not to alert his mother of his actions.

"Hey Jack what up? Planning another snow day already?" the boy asks his friend in hushed excited tones.

"Why are you whispering?" Jack asked while bending down to Jamie's level.

"I don't want my mom to know I'm out here; she found out that I put off my homework because of the long weekend. So now she is forcing me to do it all today. She said I can't go out and play until I have finished it all."

Jack shook his head at the kid, "You put off doing your work to play? I hope I'm not rubbing off on you to much."

Jamie shook his head and said something that both relieved the spirit and made him a little disappointed, "Yeah well I'd love to play all the time but my homework is important too. Hey I can't play with you right now but if you want after I'm done I can come out."

Hearing Jamie say that work was important informed him of two things, Jamie was not the child he needed to find and the boy had a good head on his shoulders. If Jamie had said he was going to run off and abandon his work because Jack showed up then he would have been concerned, but that was not the case.

"Hey Jamie I don't really have time to play today. I actually came by to ask a favor from you." Jamie noticed the change of tone in the conversation and began to listen intently. "I need to know if you know of any kids whether they be your friends or class mates that are a little too into the Guardians."

Jamie looked at Jack like he had just sprouted Tooth's wings and Bunny's ears, Jack physically face palmed himself at the rather horrible worded question.

"You know like someone who won't talk about anything else."

Jamie took a moment to think about what Jack had asked but eventually shrugged his shoulders in defeat, "I'm sorry Jack I can't really say. I mean ever since that night a few months ago you guys have become a popular topic for a lot of us. I know that my friends and I talk about you guys a little more than we should but we don't get carried away with it."

"Do any one of your friends center their conversations on me? Not including you of course."

Once again Jamie shook his head but then looked deeply concerned, "Jack…Is Pitch back?" Jack was shocked at how quickly the boy had picked up on the situation so he decided to let him in on what was happening. After everything was out in the open Jamie was immediately deep in thought this hand tapping his head. Jack knew the boy was trying his best at figuring out who the kid was, but like Jack he couldn't just arbitrarily start blaming his friends.

"Jamie dear where did you go?" Jamie's mother called from inside the house causing both the boys to jump in surprise.

"Oops, I totally forgot." Jamie looked at Jack with mixed emotions.

Tussling the boys hair Jack stood to his full height and looked towards the house, "Go back inside and finish your work Jamie and in the mean time I'll figure this out. Don't worry yourself I'm sure this is just the Boogieman's way of getting under our skin. I'll try to come back later today when you're done with all your work okay?

Needless to say Jamie was reluctant to leave his friend when he was in need, but he also knew that there was no way his mom would let him out of his work to help a spirit. "Alright I'll go, but you have to promise me that nothing bad will happen okay?" Jack smiled at his friend as he lifted his staff into the sky summoning the wind.

"You promise right Jack?" Jamie yelled up at the floating spirit who finally responded. "Of course now go inside, we don't want you in trouble too." Jamie ran inside without another word. Jack floated there in the sky without so much as a clue as to where to go next.

*********(…now if the sun sets at a different time where you are located them I am sorry but for this story it sets at 8! So let's just not question that…) ******

Jack had decided after talking with Jamie that it would be best to investigate the kids he spent the most time with. Sure this mysterious child could very well be a stranger but he knew better. Pitch would want him to have a chance at finding the kid; otherwise it would be pointless. At one time it did cross his mind that perhaps Pitch was just toying with him, laughing somewhere in the shadows as he watched ran himself ragged in search for a nonexistent child. That thought didn't last long being as the wind practically dropped him from thirty feet in the air for even thinking it.

Tracking down all of the kids sounded easy to him, excluding Jamie there couldn't be but six kids in this town that he had played with on a normal bases. What he had not expected was that none of the kids were together!

It took him a good hour and a half to located Cupcake after leaving Jamie's house. She had to take her cat to the vet after a rather horrible ballet accident caused her to topple on to the poor animal. She was almost impossible to get calmed down enough before Jack could even talk to her. He wasn't expecting her to be this emotional since he has only seen her as angry, tough or laughing. Eventually he was able to rule her out as a suspect and went on to locate the twins.

They were just as difficult to locate, it took him and agonizing hour and 30 minute to finally track them down. They were at a bowling alley with their parent on a family outing. When Jack showed up the boys wouldn't listen unless until he froze a couple of the lanes and trip them up. He was really enjoying this, but then realized that neither one of them were the kid he was looking for, thus moving on to the next child.

It was again a long time before he finally found Monty eating dinner at his grandparent's house. Monty was a rather docile child but was nowhere close to evil. Monty told Jack where Pippa should be and he didn't even hesitate to leave.

"This is taking too long!" Jack hollered to no one in particular.

"What's taking too long?" a young voice called from below him. Jack was so agitated that he didn't realize that he had already made it to the lake where Pippa was ice skating with her cousin Marisa (Marisa knew of Jack Frost thanks to Pippa).

Jack floated toward her and looked at the lake they stood on. It wasn't his lake but he was familiar with it and therefore knew it was safe for them to be skating; if he wasn't on a time limit he would give them a lecture about how to check a lakes thickness. "Hey Pippa I have a question for you so don't take this the wrong way okay?"

Pippa looked to her cousin then back at Jack nodding for him to continue. "Do you think only Santa should bring your toys and not your parents?"

Pippa started giggling out loud oblivious to the spirits growing impatiens. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to ask me that. I don't know why you need to know but I would have to say no. I think it's nice to get gifts from Santa, but nothing compares to getting gifts from your mom and dad."

"What about me?"

"What do you mean Jack? Like should I only think of you when I skate or something?

Jack slumped into a defeated slouch, "this is going to take forever."

"Jack is there anything I can do to help you?" Pippa asked softly.

"Not unless you can tell me the name of a kid who is stuck on the Guardians." He huffed out clearly not expecting an answer.

"What about that boy Stevie?" Marissa asked halfheartedly.

Jacks head shot up at the rather harmless remark, "Stevie?"

Pippa put her hand on her chin in a thinking gesture, "No she's right. Now that I think about it I do remember something off about him. It's like he always looked for a way to start a conversation about Guardians. He would even stop talking to us when we started to talk about doing other things over the weekend rather than hanging out with you."

"Pippa, do you know where he is today?" Jack blurted out in a panic looking at the setting sun.

"H-he is probably at his house, but I can't be certain."

"Thanks Pippa I owe you one!" he hollered as he shot into the sky leaving behind two very confused young girls.

*********8:00 **********

Worry etched into his features as he sped across the sky with the help of the wind. He couldn't believe he didn't see it before, that boy had struck him in a weird way since the beginning! Spotting the boys house he sent a wave of cold air in front of him blasting the boy's window open. Streamlining himself Jack ducked through the window and into the room.

Empty. The room was completely devoid of any signs of a person even being there. Everything in the room was gone, not even dust bunnies remained. Not believing his eyes Jack through open what once was the child door and ran into the rest of the house. Upon his inspection he found that these rooms were just like the last one. Empty.

"No…"he whispered as he opened yet another door.

"NO…"he said again making his way to the now empty living room. "This can't be!"

"_Oh but it is Jack," _a cool voice crept into the empty house causing a shiver to fall down Jacks spine.

"No! I figured out who it was!"

"Yes, but you didn't find them…"

"I still have time; you gave me a day I still have until midnight!"

"No Frost I gave you a DAY, and as I see it the sun has set."

Jack lifted his staff at the smirking nightmare king that now stood in front of him. Darkness began to encase the entire room as Pitch started to lift his hand. Shimmering black nightmare sand began pouring out of his hand at an alarming rate. Jack started to swing his staff freezing anything that moved in his direction, but that didn't stop the sands onslaught. Pitch let out a horrid laugh as he watched Jack struggle against his sands.

"Eight o'clock Jack.

Your

Times

Up!"

And with that trapped and unconscious in a cage of black sand was Jack, just as the little Stevie had dreamed.


	6. Chapter 6

*******Authors Notes******

Hello everybody, here is my next update! I got a little stuck here and there but I was able to push through it. If this chapter doesn't live up to the other I do apologize, I can assure you that the following chapters will make up for it. Again thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and fallowed my story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, I only own Stevie

Chapter: 6

A long sigh echoed within the confines of the small airplane. Stevie and his family have been traveling for hour and they still had yet to reach their destination. According to his mother they were moving to El Azizia in Lybia. Ever since they moved to Burgess a year ago his father had almost always complained about the cold, saying things like 'will this place ever heat up' or 'why are there no unfrozen lakes here'. Stevie liked the cold so he never could see why his father would complain. Though Stevie knew better, those complaints were just another excuse he used for them to move somewhere else.

Stevie wasn't exactly thrilled about this new, not because of the location but because of the heat. He had read the pamphlet his mother gave him and what he found out made him quiver. This place took the record for highest temperature ever recorded. On Sept. 13, 1922, the temperature hit a whopping 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), thanks to southerly winds blowing in hot air from over the Sahara Desert. The sweltering temperature was sure to become a problem he just knew it, not so much for him but for the friend that was sure to awaiting him there.

****Flashback****

An eerie darkness topped with a cool sensation filled the inside of the bedroom as he awoke for the day. Wrapping the blanket tightly around his frame Stevie glanced about the room apprehensively. Something felt intrinsically off about this once familiar space, as if there was a presence watching his every move.

"Good morning my little fearling" spoke a voice from the darkness. Stevie visibly stiffened. "You need not be afraid of me child I am not your enemy."

"S-show yourself!" the boy squeaked out from behind the covers.

Pitch slowly approached the boy from the corner of his room with a posture much like that of a whipped dog. He was slightly hunched over and his movements feigned weakness.

"You're the boogieman."

Pitched gazed into the youngster's eyes curious to see what he would do, but the boys features did not change.

"What are you doing here?" the boy asked after the silence became too much.

"What am I not doing here is more like it." The boy cocked his head in confusion so Pitch continued. "I am here to see your fears, discover your dreams and make you an offer as a friend."

Dropping his covers the child moved toward the edge of his bed and closer to that of the Nightmare King. "Why would the Boogieman want to be my friend?"

Now the ball was in the Kings court and oh how he wanted to play. "Why I know how you feel Stevie Johnson. I understand the agony of being ignored, the emptiness of having no friends there to comfort or understand you. I know how it feels to want a friend by your side, one who would stay with you, play with you, and be there when even your family has chosen to ignore you."

Clearly Pitch had hit a nerve; the boy had not only left his bed but was standing in front of him. "Your alone Stevie so alone that your fears have called to me and I have come to answer that call."

"Jamie always says that you it was because of you that all of those nightmares showed up a few months ago. He says that you are a bad guy and that you wanted to destroy the guardians."

Pitch knelt down and looked into the child's eyes with a pitiful gaze, "Jamie was wrong I didn't want to destroy them I just wanted them to be my friends. They never understood how I really felt so we ended up fighting. You can understand that cant you little one?" the boy nodded.

Children were so easy to manipulate when you hit them on an emotional level Pitch thought as he curled his grey fingers around the boys shoulder. "I know that you are leaving today Stevie, so I want to take a friend with you."

Stevie's eyes widened at the offer being given to him, "You want me to take a friend with me? Who is it?"

"You know him very well already, his name is Jack Frost."

Stevie's smile faded into a small smirk and his eyes lowered down to the hardwood floor. "Jack wouldn't go with me. He's the spirit of winter fun who goes wherever the wind takes him. I am just a lonely kid who drifts from around with his parents. Besides I heard we are moving to somewhere really hot so he'll just-"

"Oh but he will, you see I was just talking to him last night and he was telling me how much he liked hanging out with you. When I told him of your departure he told me himself how he would travel to anywhere to be with you."

"Jack…said that, but what about the heat?" the boys voice caught in his throat.

"Oh don't you worry about that we have made plans. You see I will construct a container for him to reside in where the heat will not harm him. That way no matter where you go he will be able to fallow you."

"What about when he wants to leave the container?"

"He may say that he will want to leave but that is just him being the trickster that he is known for, it is all a game to him. I assure you, if ever you open the cage then Jack will think you don't want him around and as such he will leave you alone."

Stevie looked uncertain and afraid about what he was being told, but Pitch could see the underlining desire that lingered in this eyes. Taking out a small black skull key Pitch placed it softly in to the boys tiny hands.

"Here, take this key and hide it safely away. If you ever want Jack to leave you, throw this at the container."

"Oh you can keep this; I don't ever want Jack to go away!"

"We'll see, now I must go and get Jack ready. I will have him to you by time you enter your new house." And with that Pitch faded into the shadows leaving Stevie with a wonderful parting gift.

*****************End Flashback****************

The memory of that morning kept finding its way into the fore front of his mind. There were moments that he thought it was just a dream until his fingers fiddled with the small key.

"Attention all passengers, please put your tray tables up and place your seat in the full upright position. We will be landing at El Azizia airport shortly." The P.A system repeated the message a few more times with a little more or less information. Stevie gripped the key in his pocket completely oblivious to the chatter that was going on around him. All he wanted to do now was get off the plane and get to their house where Jack was sure to be waiting.


	7. Chapter 7

~~~~~Authors notes~~~~~~

Hangs head down* Sorry everyone for my lateness, I could give you my excuse as to why I haven't updated but I don't think it really mattes. I'm back with the next installment and that's all that counts. Alright everyone read on I say…read on. (lol)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the RoTG's characters or story; I only own Stevie and his family.

Chapter 7:

"Why is it so HOT!" Jack gasped out as he pried open his weary and pain filled eyes. He tried his best to take in his surrounding but found it very difficult. Darkness enveloped everything in every direction. At first he thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him, so he slowly lifted his hands in front of him to inspect his surroundings.

His fingers brushed across what he thought to be warm steal and instinctively pulled them back. After a moment or two his curiosity took a hold of him again and he reached forward once more. This time he did not recoil, his hands glided over the bars inspecting every detail he could. These bars although warm to the touched gave off a chilling atmosphere, one that made Jack feel a bit queasy.

Nevertheless he continued with his inspection, where his eyes had failed him his other senses did not. Each one kicked into overdrive trying their best to decipher what it was that held him imprisoned. Smelling, feeling, listening, and yes he even willed up the courage to take a lick; (which he immediately regretted doing) all in the hopes for an answer. What he unveiled had both puzzled and terrified him.

Fear sand, each and every bar that made up his prison was crafted out of very powerful and sturdy fear sand. Fear sand to Jack had always been loose and evasive; it ebbed and flowed like a river of doubt and misguidance. So what was it doing in a solidified form around him, rather than traipsing across the sky in search of new victims for Pitch?

Another heat wave passed trough Jack forcing him to reach out and grab the bars in front of him. Panting slightly he looked to the floor of his sand built cage. Like a starving child his eyes caught a glimpse of light and immediately began searching for the source. Kneeling down he was able to notice that a thin line of light surrounded the bottom edge of the cage. Occasionally it would move in an odd direction then thin out to its original shape. It was then he realized why he couldn't see, a black blanket of sorts was draped over the cage.

Forcing his hand through lower bars he started to grab at the mysterious cloth when he stopped. Not because he wanted to but because he had to; a searing pain had erupted through his hand starting at his finger tips the moment they touched the light.

"What in the-" he exclaimed aloud.

Holding his hand close he took a second to inspect it, what he seen conserned him. Small burn marks had taken refuge upon his pale skin creating an usual discoloration to his normally flawless skin. Thankfully the effects didn't last long as his core temperature took over eradicating the disturbing site.

"There is only one place that could do this," jack started with a rather annoyed sigh placing one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead. "But why in blue blazes am I in the Desert of all places?"

Jack turned to grab his staff which he though was near him only to meet the unwelcome touch of sandbars; a slight panic began to well up inside him as he started feeling around aimlessly for his staff. His mind knew that there was no way Pitch would have been dumb enough to have left the one object that could amplify his power; though that did not stop him from hopping that it was there. Other people thought he was weak without it due to his way of always clinging to it. That wasn't the case at all in fact it was far from the truth.

Jack was the winter spirit and the staff was his weapon of choice, not the other way around. Jack's staff merely amplified his powers like any god conductor would, but because it had always been with him he had found himself uncomfortable with out it.

Realizing the search was futile he stopped, but when yet another heat wave hit him he let out an aggravated sigh. His body naturally emitted cold so the fact that he was heating up was not only aggravating him it was causing him pain.

"Ah screw this, I can' just sit here waiting for help." Clapping his hands to gather he let out a long and deep breath. Frost started to envelop his hands as he concentrated on the task at hand. The goal was simple, lower his external temperature enough to freeze the bars and break them.

After twenty times or so of repeating the process it was painfully obvious that all he was accomplishing in this ridiculous heat was a frost covered cell and no breath. While catching his breath and preparing for another bout, voices from what seemed to be another room reached his ears.

When Jack tried to listen in they seemed to all but stop talking. Just as he was about to call him self crazy the voice began to converse again, and it was then that he recognized them. One belonged to that no-good-dimwitted-cheating-bad breathed-over zealous- Pitch, the other voice was smaller and unmistakably that of Stevie Johnson.

"Where is he, is he Here yet? The boy cried in excitement.

"Indeed, but you must remember what I told you," Pitched hissed with fake kindness.

"Of course I will so where is, he can I see him yet?" the boy once again asked this time with more excitement.

Footsteps made there way towards Jack were he backed into the far end of his rather tiny cage. Without warning the black cloth was yanked off the cage and fell unceremoniously on to the floor. The outside heat that was once blocked by cloth came rushing to the cage all at once. All the air in Jacks lungs were knocked out and what frost was on the cage evaporated in one fell swoop.

Dizzy and disorientated Jack fell to his knees gasping for air and willing the room to stop spinning. Stevie didn't seem to notice the pain or struggle was going through at all. Instead he turned to Pitch with a wide smile on his face, his eyes gleaming with blind joy.

Jack grabbed the bars and glared out at the two beings in front of him. Jack had never held hate or disdain in his heart for anyone, but these two were really beginning to work on is nerves. Internally he promised him self that Pitch would receive one hell of a beating when he got out of that cage.

He was upset at Stevie to, but he couldn't get himself to believe that Pitch wasn't somehow involved. Granted the boy was a little weird and slightly prankish, but what young boy wasn't?

Pitch stated moving away form the cage catching Jacks eye, "I would so love to stay and chat but I have work to do. Now you two boys have fun, and Jack?" the two legends stared at each other with great intensity, "Do try to stay cool." Before a snappy comeback could be given Pitch was gone without a trace.

Now that he could see unhindered Jack glanced around the room his cage was sitting in. It looked to be an attic of some kind with tiny windows at each end. A small spiral stair case was off to one side of the room which Jack could only assume lead down to the lower levels of the house. There was little to no furniture in the room and what little there was seemed to warped by the heat of the land.

After his study of the room his eyes landed tiredly on the young boy who sat cross legged in front of him. He was adorn in short blue shorts, white sleeveless shirt, a blue baseball cap on top of his head, and black sandals on his feet. Sweat glistened his tiny face indicative of what the temperature was like outside.

Slumping back in to the cage Jack listened half heartedly to the child in front of him as he spoke on and on about the day he has had. His eyes drifted towards the ceiling and he internally called for the wind, begging for it to bring even the tiniest of cool breezes to him.

Silence was his answer, and as his eyes began to close he wished that the other Guardians would notice his absence and find him.


	8. Chapter 8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello reader, I'm back with the next instilment of Caging Frost, Woot! However before I start I wanted to say a little something to some of my readers:

oO Sara NekoChan Oo – Hahaha! Thank you for taking the chance with my story. I didn't think that the title was giving off that particular vibe. When I read your message it made me giggle. Images of snow fairies and Phil chasing me popped into my head, thanks for that.

Blackkyu- Your messages are always nice to see, I'm glad to see you still like it.

Illuminati-4 –I know Stevie is a little creepy but we will all see why soon. Also I will be getting back to the over believers so no worries.

I love seeing everyone's reviews it makes writing this all the more exciting for me, and trust me that is a good thing. When I'm excited about the story the chapters reflect it! Now I am no good with showing accents on people so just imagine it okay? I could keep going but I've wasted enough of your time as is. So let us be off, chapter 8.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the RoTG's characters or story; I only own Stevie and his family.

Chapter 8: Omen of Ice

Pacing back and forth in his office North found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Ever since three days ago a strange sensation of unease had settled over him, a feeling he usually got when something was wrong. Concern for the children in the world had him looking over the globe with a steady eye at least once every couple of hours. He even went as far as having the Yetis checking it when he was to busy to do so himself, and even though none of check ups produced information he couldn't get his nerves to settle.

Frustrated he turned toward the crafting table in the center of the room. He found that even when stressed ice sculpting had a way of steadying his hands and bringing him back to his center.

Small tapping noises filled the room as he began to chisel away at the block in front of him. He was attempting to drown his overworked nerves in the project at hand but was interrupted by a loud crack.

Wide eyed and curios the Guardian of wonder stood from his seat and glance towards his favorite sculpture. The sculpture was that of a four foot tall replica of his workshop and at its base were the guardians. Each piece was sculpted by the guardian it was meant to represent. These pieces may have lack the graceful detail commonly found in his work, but that didn't make the piece any less his favorite.

Slowly he glanced over every piece looking for what could have made the sound, it wasn't until his eyes landed upon Jacks replica did he discover the problem. Gingerly he picked up the piece to inspect the rather large crack that had formed within the clear icy replica. Starting in the left shoulder the crack stretched all the way down to its lower thigh.

North stared at the sculpture in utter disbelief. Unlike his other icy works of art that melted after he was done with them, this piece was meant to last for ever unless manually disposed of. He even had Jack's help in crafting the ice, for there to be a break _inside_ the piece could be the result of only one thing. Jack was in trouble.

Slamming open his office doors North made his way to the globe room. Phil, hearing the sudden commotion, ran to the normally bubbly man with concern.

"I knew something was wrong but I never…" his Russian accent thick with anger, he stormed over the control panel in front of the globe. Phil threw a questioning look at the man who had stopped in mid motion. One hand rested on the Aurora signal, his muscles tense and his eyes were filled to the brim with a torrent of emotions.

"Nota?" Phil said gently.

North looked at the figure in his hand and then to his friend. "I think its about time we had a meeting." and with that he activated the call.

Tooth was the first to arrive at the pole when the call was sent out. She had been looking for the lights for a while now, though she didn't want to admit it to the others until she was sure of why the call was sent out.

Bunny had shown up not long after Tooth's arrival through the use of his portals. He shifted around the room with nervous energy but claimed it was only due to his cold feet. It was an obvious lie but the others ignored it figuring he would tell them what was on his mind when he was ready.

Sandy was the last to show up out of the four; he flew through an open window inside of his large sand crafted airplane. As the sands dispersed Sandy looked to the others then quizzically around the room. It was obvious who he was looking for so North decided now was the time to start.

"Thank you all for assembling so quickly. I think this was our fastest time yet!" he said with fake enthusiasm.

"Wait, were not all here yet! Where is Jack?" Tooth burst out in a jittery fashion.

Sandy nodded his head in agreement flashing a snowflake and question mark above his head.

North tensed at the question asked him, he wasn't quite sure how to answer his fellow guardians. Part of him hoped that all of this was a false alarm; that the young man would swoop in on them laughing.

"I don't know." Was all he could muster.

"I hate to be the one to call ya' out mate, but you don't seem to be telling us everything." When the pooka chimed in the others looked from North to Bunny then back.

"I have a felling in my belly that something is terribly wrong with Jack." North offered his hand out to show the others the cracked Jack figuring.

"Are you telling me you called us all the way here to talk about your cracks toy? Blimey mate no wonder Frost didn't show up," bunny shook his head and pulled out his boomerang to fiddle with.

Frustrated the big man shook the figurine at the bunny for added emphasis, "This is a bad Omen; ice like this shouldn't melt let alone crack! If this has happened then I am most certain there is something wrong with the young Guardian!"

North half expected his friends and fellow guardians to laugh or shrug off his tirade but when they didn't he was overjoyed. It was Tooth who decided to chime in this time, but with some concerns of her own.

"You know, I have been feeling a little off lately. Almost as if there is something wrong, but I didn't think…I mean this is Jack were talking about?" Tooth looked at Baby-Tooth who had accompanied her; the little fairy looked very upset almost to the point of tears. The little fairies were very in tuned with Tooth, so when she was upset the other Fairies could help but act accordingly.

North noticed the distress the tiny one was in, "Tell me Tooth, have you or any of your fairies seen our little trickster in the last few days?"

Tooth's eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears as she looked at him, he had is answer and she knew it.

North turned towards Sandy, the golden spirit was standing off in the corner in a rather contemplative pose. His right arm tucked underneath the other and his left hand tapped on his forehead.

North's eyes widened and he shuffled over to his side. He crouched down low and looked at the spirit who was lost in thought, "OH! Sandy you are knowing something yes?!"

Sandy waved his hand trying to shoo away the larger man as his faced scrunched in concentration. There was something he was forgetting and he was trying really hard to remember and having an over reactive guardian pestering him wasn't helping.

Disregarding the smaller mans attempts to get rid of him North picked him up and shook him like a heavily wrapped present, "Come now old friend, no keeping secrets!"

Bunny had watched the exchange and realized quickly that if they were going to get anywhere Santa would have to chill, "All right mate that's enough."

Sandy gave a half smile as North set him back to the ground with and apology.

"Perhapse we should just go out and search for him."

"Where would we start Tooth? This world is huge and the boy could be any where right now."

"Now Bunny, Tooth has a point maybe it best if we split up and search."

"Oh sure, lets all just pick a spot and get hopping then shall we? North you know that won't do us any good. For all we know Frostbite is just chilling in some frozen waste land somewhere."

Sandy snapped his fingers in a realization and began to flail his arms at the oblivious Guardians.

"Then Jack would of seen the lights and come here Bunny. I don't know where he is, but we got to try to something I mean North's statue…"

Just as Bunny when to snap back a large golden mallet slammed in between them all, if the situation wasn't so serious Sandy would have laughed at them as they jumped and squealed.

Sandy formed a Snowflake and then floated to the globe and made and arrow to a small group of glowing lights. The others looked at the lights for a moment until it clicked.

"Wonderful idea Sandy, we will ask Jamie and his friend if they have seen Jack!" North clapped his hands with glee before twirling around to the yetis that had gathered in around. "Ready the Sleigh!"

Tooth giggled with glee, Sandy silently clapped his hands with joy and Bunny visible sighed while hanging his head. It was time to start the search, there first stop Burgess.


	9. Chapter 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O_O okay, so I can see you all really want to know what happens next so I decided to be super nice and update ASAP.

Now don't throw any snowballs, elves, or any other projectile my way (I'll just dodge them anyway hee-hee.) but I have been asked how long I intend to make this and my response it thus…it will be as long as it wants to be. I don't think a story should be limited by a given number of chapters. If this story or the people reading decide, 'hey it should come to an end' then fine. However I am not planning on ending it any time soon. There is to much I need to cover and no way to do it quickly. Besides that would just ruin the story for you guys and I don't want that.

So here you are the next chapter in my length story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Must I repeat this? Fine, I do not own any of the RoTG's characters; I only own Stevie and his family.

Chapter 9:

Jamie and his friends had just been released for what could have been the most boring day of school ever. Their teachers decided to give them extra homework to make up for previous snow day, and no one was prepared for the pop quizzes they decided to have.

"Gosh, and here I thought Jack was going to give us more snow." Claude let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah Jamie didn't he say he was going to make it snow through Tuesday?" commented Caleb.

Jamie shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head slightly to one side, "He did but maybe he had somewhere to go, he is the Spirit of Winter after all."

"Yeah, but he like totally left without saying anything." Pippa chimed in from the back.

"You don't think he found other kids to play with and forgot about us?" Monty whispered to Pippa who merely shrugged.

"Maybe he just got tiered of us and left." Cupcake huffed out to no one in particular

Jamie turned to the other with a slight scowl on his face, "Jack probably had a good reason so stop bad mouthing him! He would never be like that and you know it!"

Ashamed the others looked away from the fuming boy in front of them. He knew more about the Guardians then all of them combine. So when Jamie said something was blue, then even if it looked green it was defiantly blue.

Jamie was getting ready to say something else when a familiar jingle rang in his ears. Immediately his head shot up and his eyes began to scan the skies. His friends looked to each other and then back at Jamie who had suddenly changed.

"Do…you guys hear that?" he whispered.

"Hear wh-" as if on cue the bells rang again cutting Pippa off.

"Those are Santa's Sleigh bells!" they all hollered together.

Each kid took a portion of the sky, all of them hoping to be the first to spot it. Cupcake was lucky enough to be the first to see it, "There it is! I think there landing in the park!" Fallowing her hand Jamie saw that the sleigh was indeed descending in the park.

"Come on lets go guys"

As they were making there way to Burgess Bunny let it slip that he had also been feeling uneasy in the last few days. Originally he wasn't going to admit anything, but North assumed that he wanted to clear his conscious if he happened to fall out of the sleigh. Not that North doing barrel rolls and stunt dives could possible have anything to do with it.

Sandy also formed little images explaining that he was feeling off, this just made North all the more determined to discover the truth of what has happened to their youngest member.

It was about late afternoon when the sleigh appeared over the town of Burgess through the North's portal.

"How strange…" Tooth whispered.

"What is it?" North asked from the front of the sleigh.

"This weather is to warm for snow." She answered while reaching her arms into the sky testing it with her sensitive feathers.

"That's what happens in spring time."

"Normally I would agree with you Bunny, but Jack told me two weeks ago that he was going to do one last dusting of this place before he headed to Antarctica."

Sandy shaped a picture of Jack playing with the kids then a picture that looked to be a time chart. He kept this up until his message was clearly understood. Jack had been in this town not long ago.

"So then why is it so warm then Sandy? Bunny? North?"

No one answered her question, but it did make them ponder the question.

"North its still day time, we should probably stay hidden what with all the children and all."

North took Tooth's advice and stayed just above the cloud line to avoid detection, but he made sure to maintain a low enough altitude to get a certain group of children's attention. When he noticed the kids searching the skies for them he cracked the reigns. Pulled from the cloud cover he descended to the nearby park where the children would sure to fallow.

"Are you sure they seen us?" Tooth asked glancing over the railing at the world below.

"I am sure. Hold on everyone it is time we land."

Landing near JacksLake the Guardians exited the sleigh only to be instantly greeted by a group of happy children. North laughed loudly as the children gathered around them. "How are all of you?"

Each of them, with the exception of Jamie, began to speak simultaneously. Their voices melded together in an undistinguishable chorus of confusion.

Bunny noticed Jamie's lack of participation and hopped over to the small boy. "Hey there mate, why aren't you joining in with the others?"

Jamie looked up at him with questioning eyes, "Why are you guys here? Don't get me wrong I'm glad to see you but…"

Bunny crouched down to be at the boys' level and searched his eyes. "Tell me, have you seen Jack?"

Although he didn't speak loudly the question reached everyone's ears resulting in an eerie silence. Bunny ears went ridged due to the silence, "I take that as a resounding no."

"Jack isn't here he just disappeared over the weekend."

"Disappeared, are you sure that he just didn't go somewhere colder?"

"No, well maybe I don't know really. I just…" he looked at his friends who were staring at him. He wanted to continue but he was afraid that what he would say would cause undo panic.

Tooth hovered closer to the boy, "Please Jamie sweetie, if there is anything you know please tell us. I'm sure Jack won't be upset at you if you did."

Stealing himself Jamie began to explain to them all about the encounter he had with his Frosty friend earlier that week. They did not interrupt his story but listened intently. When the boy got to the part where Jack informed him of Pitch's presence an audible gasp blew through the group cutting Jamie's story short.

"Pitch?! Why that evil little…why didn't Frost try to contact us when he had the chance?" Bunny exclaimed standing to his full height.

"I don't think he had the time, he seemed like he was in a hurry when I saw him." Pippa admitted guiltily.

"What? You saw Jack, when, where, and why didn't you say anything?"

"I saw him two days ago Jamie when I was at the lake with my cousin. We were ice skating when he showed up acting all weird. What was I supposed to do?"

North interrupted the little spat with a question of his own, "What did he ask you?"

Pippa looked at the Jolly man feeling slightly sheepish, "He asked me weather or not I thought only you and not my parent should bring me toys…I told him no and he looked almost deflated."

"Hey! Jack asked Caleb and me something along those lines to!"

"Oh! Jack came to my grandparent's house to ask me that question as well."

"I recall him saying something to me when I was with my cat in the vet's office."

Each kid regaled their encounter with the winter spirit on that day. North's features scrunched together in thought before realization took over, "Could he have been looking for an over-believer?"

"That word! That exactly what Jack said Pitch said!"

North looked down at Jamie, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am I wouldn't make that up."

North faced his fellow guardians with growing concern, "How is that possible? Over-believers stopped existing ages ago."

"Anything's possible mate, especially when Pitch is involved."

North started to stroke his beard in a contemplative manner when Sandy tapped his leg. Looking down he noticed the Spirit of Dreams gesturing to Pippa.

"Pippa my dear, is there something else you want to say?"

"Well…when Jack asked us of anyone who was obsessed with him my cousin mentioned that boy Stevie. Next thing I know Jack is flying away, none of us have seen him since. Y-you don't think I got him in trouble do you?"

Sandy put a comforting hand on the girls back rubbing it in soothing circles.

"Of course not dear, in fact you have just helped us, all of you in fact. Don't you kid's worry we will find Jack and bring him back. Now where is this Stevie boy perhaps he will know something?"

"Sorry North, but we do don't know." Jamie looked frustrated at his inability to help, "Stevie didn't show up at school today, when I asked the teacher she told me that his family withdrew him. Apparently they had moved away during the weekend and didn't tell anyone. I thought he was our friend but…Gah! How could he just leave like that and not say anything?"

Tooth floated over to Jamie and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and felt a slight relief come over him. Her bright eyes lifted his spirit even if it was only by a little. "I'm sure everything is fine."

Bunny was becoming impatient once he realized that their mischievous friend was not there. It didn't help matters that while they should be investigating this boy, and 'integrating' Pitch they had to stand here and sooth over the kids emotions. Don't get bunny wrong he loved these kids, and normally he would enjoy spending time with them. But this situation was serious and he was in no mood to be wasting time.

Thumping his paw on the ground in mock annoyance the other Guardians turned to him, "I don't mean to bring this to such a short close but I think we should be leaving."

None of the kids seemed to be concerned at the Easter Bunnies sudden interjection. Instead they backed away form them all with hope filled eyes. It was time for them all to go, and they knew it.

"Please, bring Jack back." Jamie mouthed to his heroes as they climbed back into the sleigh.

"Don't worry Jamie, just believe Jack is fine and he will be!" North bellowed as he snapped the reins signaling the reindeer to take off.

As they ascended into the sky Tooth looked back at the kids, "North, why did you tell them that?"

"I needed them to have something to believe in rather than giving into fear. We don't need them to be unknowingly fueling Pitch with any more power."

Pulling out another snow globe North flung it out in front of them. Finding one kid in the whole world was going to be difficult, but they never backed down form a challenge before and they weren't about to start now.


	10. Chapter 10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Surprise! I am posting not one but TWO stories tonight! I thought I'd spoil you guys a little bit. That and its chapter 10, WOOT! =(^.^)= Now just to get the time line straight it goes like this:

Thursday Jack meets Stevie thanks to Jamie, Friday was snow day fun time, Saturday Jack searched for the kid and failed, Sunday he is in El Azizia, Monday guardians call the meeting and meet the kids.

Now that that is cleared up we go forward!

Disclaimer: we have all herd it before but…I do not own any of the RoTG's characters; I only own Stevie and his family.

Chapter 10:

Jack had seen the Aurora lights shinning in the distant window and hope sprang inside his chest. It had only been roughly two as far as he could tell and the Guardians were already calling a meeting. At that point he didn't care why the meeting was called; all he knew was that they would notice his absence and surly set out to look for him. That alone was enough to make his nerves settle down a bit.

It was not only hot in this empty attic it was annoyingly lonely. Yeah, he was visited by everyone's favorite little creepy boy, but it wasn't the same as being outside. He was used to being alone in the sense of people not talking to or seeing him, but this loneliness was different. He couldn't play pranks on people or joke around with his favorite animals. He was stuck in the same spot for hours and it was driving him bonkers.

The winds tried to give him company like it use to, but it found it hard to do so when all it could do was carry warm air to the boy. Jack was happy at the attempts of the wind; he even tried to cool it off as it approached him. Each attempt failed however and eventually he had to wave it away with a heavy heart.

If only he could form some snow he would be a little more content in his tiny space at least then he would be able to entertain himself. Heck he would be happy with one of those hand held games that kids love so much these days.

Jack took of his sweater for the umpteenth  
time that day and rang it out. He would have tried to freeze his sweat but past attempts proved to be futile. It always resulted in nasty pool of water anyway so he decided to just let it evaporate.

After all of the water was removed to Jack's liking he slipped the sweater back on his thin frame. Now Jack knew that most people would be screaming at him to keep off, that by doing so would keep his temperature from rising. Normally that was true, but for him it was the exact opposite. With his sweater on he could exhale cool air into the lining allowing at least his core temperature from spiking. It didn't keep him cool for long, but it did help him maintain a sense of normalcy. Without his sweater the heat had an unhindered advantage at his body.

When the previous night had come he thought that he was going to get a reprieve from the heat but that was not so. Heat in the night was not as harsh to Jack but it still assaulted him nonetheless.

Small footsteps began to ascend the stairs to the attic, and Jack readied him self for another round. Rather than thinking of this as a prison type situation he decided to think of it as more of a game.

"Heya Jack! I'm back, sorry I was gone for so long. Mom insisted that I go with her to look at my new school."

"School huh? I bet you'll have a lot of fun there."

"Sure as fun, that's what I use to describe school. Honestly Jack and you call your self the Spirit of Fun."

Jack rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say; anything sounds fun when compared to sitting a lonely room all day."

"I suppose…So hey what do you say we play a game?!"

"Yeah that's a great idea, how about you let me out of this cage and we can play hide and seek?"

"Ha-ha, that's a good one Jack. You know I can't do that. How about we play charades?"

"Charades again, that's more of Sandman's game not mine. I know how about we play tag, it'll be fun"

"Nah, how about we play cards I just got this neat deck form the flea market?"

"A flea market huh? That place sounds cool, how about you let me out and we'll sneak out and play some pranks on some people there."

"NO, I don't want to go out there. We can have just as much fun in here."

"Ah come on, I just need to stretch my legs a little. I'm getting all kinked up"

"You're floating Jack you don't need to stretch..."

"So you want to stay inside? We can play pranks on your parents! How about you just open-"

"STOP IT!" Stevie suddenly pouted causing Jack to flinch a little.

"Hey it's okay…"

"No its not, this isn't fun anymore. I don't wanna play the escape game anymore."

Jack looked at the child before him. Small chubby cheeks were pushed out in an angry pout. His arms held tight by his sides for more emphases and his eyes were practically closed. It was times like these that Jack found it hard to read the boy. Was he sad, angry or just plain lost he wasn't sure. Not being able to read the boy made it all the more difficult to react accordingly.

"Look Stevie…."

"Don't say it Jack! I know you like your games but sometimes you should pick something new."

"Now listen here, I don't know what you think I was going to say but it has nothing to do with games!"

Stevie stumbled back at the sudden outburst of the Guardian.

"I don't like this Jack, why are you yelling at me…I thought I was your friend?"

That was it, the temperature of the room and the outburst of the child was enough to make him snap. "Your friend, if I am your friend then why did you lock me up? Why did you team up with Pitch? Tell me, what in your right mind thought that any of this was okay!?"

Stevie's eyes began to widen and his form started to shake as he began to back away from the spirit.

"Oh no you don't," Jack reached trough the bars and grabbed the little boys arm and pulled him closer to the cage. He wasn't being violent and barley held him in his grasp. If Stevie really wanted he could easily of broken free of the weakened Jack. However the shock of his action caused the boy to freeze.

"You said that I was your friend right? Then let me give you some friendly advice kid, let me go. Keeping me here isn't good for anyone and you know it."

"Stop…" but Jack did not listen to the boy, he merely continued

"I want to be your friend I really do, but I can't stay here. I'll visit you often and promise to keep in touch. I know you're a good kid Stevie and I know your lonely, heck I have been there, but this isn't the way."

"Enough…" the boy whispered while looking down to the floor

"No, as long as I am here I am not going to stop telling you this. I am going to keep at it until I get through that head of yours."

"Stop it Stop IT STOP IT!" the boy hollered pulling his arm away.

"This is what friends do Stevie, they tell their friends the things the need to hear, even if they don't want to hear it."

Stevie turned from Jack and run to the stairs, tear pooling at the edges of his eyes. It pained Jack greatly to know that he caused tears of pain and not joy in the eyes of a child, but he knew it had to be done. Stevie had to see the error of his ways even if Jack had to throw it in his face.

"I hate you Jack!" the boy yelled as he stomped down the stairs an out of view.

"No you don't…" he whispered back. Jack knew the boys' outburst wasn't what he really felt, but kids will say anything when they are in emotional turmoil.

Suddenly an unusual feeling began to wash over his body. Everything around him seemed to be taking on a serial appearance. He glanced at his hands and then touched his face. Pulling back his hands he noticed the amount of sweat that had coated his hands and clung to his face. His struggle with the boy caused him to exert more energy than he had originally intended.

"Oops, I guess I took it too far…ugh" and with that Jack crumpled into his cage, his temperature steadily rising and no energy left to bring it down.


	11. Chapter 11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now that the holidays are over, now I can give y'all more chapters! So buckle up and hang on tight…or just lounge comfortable in your chair, either way works for me. Also please be patient guys I am reveling more about the over-believers slowly but surely. I am going to try to give you guys a lot of information on them in the next few chapters.

Disclaimer: yaddi yaddi I don't own RoTG just Stevie and any other new character I decide to through in.

Chapter 11: Which Ever Way the Wind Blows

Silence engulfed the once boisterous rooms found at the Pole. Out of respect for the Guardians and their situation, all of the Yetis and Elves had stopped working on the toy and started searching for clues about Jack. They had looked over the globe for the light that was Stevie. It was a safe bet that since he was an over-believer than his light would burn bright. However the boys light was no where to be found and figuring that it was because of Pitch, they decided to go by different means.

North had studied the Ice sculpture and deduced it was very likely that Jack was in a place with extreme heat. It wasn't much but it did narrow possible locations for them to search by a great deal. Phil, upon hearing this detail had split his fellow Yetis into small groups; each one was given a specific destination to explore for any signs of Jack. Some elves decided that although smaller and less adapt for field work they would stay at the pole and organize the information the Yeti's brought back.

Although all of their efforts were turning up nothing North was very proud of his helpers, more proud then he ever had been before. Sure they were falling behind in getting the toys ready for next Christmas, but there would be time to make it up later. Right now the situation was serious and every extra hand willing to help was not shunned. There was one thing to say about his helpers and friends they were reliable in a pinch.

Tooth had the greatest idea about how to help the Yeti's spot Stevie; she would go back to her palace and use his teeth to get his 'profile'. When she went back to her palace to retrieve them however, her little fairies informed her that those particular set of teeth were 'misplaced'. This frustrated and depressed her all at once, for not only has she lost a child's teeth (ergo his memories) she still had no new information to help them find Jack.

Sandy produced a life like size of the boy rendering him the best way he could. Sure it lacked any defining colors such as skin, hair, and eyes but the structure and likeness was the closest thing they had to go on.

"Sandy you have seen this boy?" The others had hollered in unison. A sheepish smile formed on his lips as he looked at the ground.

"Speak up man, when did you see this boy?"

Ignoring the harshness in North's voice Sandy proceeded to explain slowly in a stream of sand shapes. It detailed the night that he had met up with Jack, and how the two of them found the boy awake. How Jack had interacted with the boy, and how the boy acted around him. It took a few times of repetition at certain points of the story before the others had fully understood him, but he was patient and waited. It was Bunny who decided to respond first.

"Are you meaning to say that you knew something was up with the kid and didn't think to tell Jack or us?

Sandy frowned and started throwing angry sand images in fast succession towards his furry friend.

"Hey wait slow it down, what the bloody…will you stop mate I can't keep up!"

"What I think Sandy is trying to say is that it was just a feeling, he wasn't sure if anything was really wrong. We can't just start placing blame here Bunny, what would you have done in his situation?"

Bunny held his tongue, he knew Tooth was right but it still didn't make him feel any better about the situation. "It wasn't meant as an insult, sorry Sandy."

Sandy nodded with a small smile showing his friend he accepted the apology before turning to North, just as he went to speak his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. North gave him a puzzled look before glancing at the other Guardians in the room; they too had a looks of shock and bewilderment upon their faces. Taking the hint he turned around in search of what ailed them.

Shadows lingered eerily above the globe of lights, pulsing and resonating with a dark aurora all too familiar. Narrowing his eyes in disgust North drew his dual blades from there sheaths. Every one in the room had fallowed his example, weather they be Yeti, Elf or Guardian. A calm silence flowed trough the room as the tension rose to an uncomfortable level.

"I must say I am shocked. Your manners at greeting guests are no better than that of young Frost's." Pitch's voice echoed trough the room.

"Who could blame him; you're the worst possible guest to have!"

"Now now rabbit, use your indoor voice. It's rude to yell, besides I'll have you know I am a much anticipated house guest. People look forward to having me." He retorted while emerging from the black sand in one smooth step.

"Like they look forward to a cavity," the Guardian of memories coughed.

"Smooth, but as you can guess I am a very busy man and I don't have time to chat about such trivial matters."

North muttered but one word, never looking away from the man who had invaded his home once again, "Jack."

"I see, so you have realized he is missing. Not that I didn't leave enough clues for you to fallow. Even the weather tried to give you hints as to his absence. Rain turned to sleet or hail but refused to become snow. Winds blew roughly but never really held a steady chill. I must say it practically spelled it out to you in big bold letters!"

"We all know he's missing, you are going to tell us where he is or-"

"Or what you sorry excuse for a rabbit; what do you think you could possible do that would make me tell you where he is hmm?"

Bunnymund's gripped his boomerang all the more tighter as he inched closer to the nightmare king.

"Ooh, the Bunny thinks he is going to intimidate me. Please, like you could ever do that."

"Then why are you here?"

Pitch turned to North with amusement twinkling in his sickly yellow eyes, "Why to gloat of course. I don't want to just feel your and Jacks suffering I want to see it. I want to absorb ever form your terror comes in, and soak it up like a much needed sun bath. After all, what point is there in causing fear, pain, and chaos if one can not see its effects?"

"You Monster!" Tooth took a sharp feather from one of her arms and zoomed over towards Pitch. He had anticipated this response and fazed trough the shadows to an adjacent balcony. "What have you done to Jack and that little boy?"

The mention of the boy caused Pitch to stop in his tracks, a wicked smile gracing his pale lips "Boy? Why what ever are you talking about?"

Sandy formed the picture of the child once more before letting it flow away into a few random pictures. Pitch knew what he was getting at and emitted a throaty chuckle.

"You suggest that I have created an over-believer?"

"It's not a theory it's a fact, you Pitch have created the first over-believer in over a hundred years. That is a crime against all of us mythos and that includes you!" North stated in a deep and sturdy voice, a voice not far from that of an adult scolding a child for doing a bad deed.

"Don't speak to me like I am some incompetent child! I know that repercussion forming an over-believer could have, that is exactly why I didn't create one in me!"

"Why create on at all Pitch?" Tooth hissed out in disgust.

"Why? Why not?! Children are so in tuned with the magic in this world and most of them don't even know it! They are like little ticking time bombs just waiting to go off, how could I not want to set one of them off? For me to set one off and then to give it to Frost, I found it to be the perfect way to get my revenge wouldn't you agree?"

"PITCH…"

"Oh give it a rest Rabbit, don't think you're any better than I. You all have gone too far at one point in time and created your own little Over-believer, don't you try to deny it. I can see the fear these particular children stir within you, it makes doing this all the more enjoyable!"

Pitch was laughing to the point that he started to double over, and all the Guardians wanted to do was punch him.

Suddenly a howling wind began to rush trough every level of the Shop. Windows moaned and doors creaked at the pressure that began to build around them. Anyone who has heard or experienced a tornado would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the sounds it makes to the sound that reverberated of the walls.

"What's going on?" Tooth whispered to North, a tinge of terror hidden in her eyes.

North wanted to say it was Pitch's doing, but the look of concern and worry upon his grey face told him otherwise. So he merely shrugged his shoulders and told everyone to brace for what ever was to come. What did come however was nothing that anyone was expecting.

Windows bang to bang and slam open everywhere within the shop, doors started to fly off there hinges hitting anything or one who was unfortunate enough to be in their way. Yetis and elves ran to the windows closes to them trying to brace them down only to be thrown by the intensity of the wind.

In a flash the winds began to pull together and take a shape in the center of the room. Random objects in the room were uprooted and pulled into its violent and unforgiving grasp. Its form was not solid by any means and it was obviously too hard of a shape for it to hold; but gradually everyone could see a figure appear a large and rather fierce looking falcon with talons sharper than a razors edge. It appeared as though the winds themselves were tired of being ignored and vented its frustration in the only way it could.

It is said that at times during major natural storms in the world, those not created by a spirit like Jack, a figure can be seen within it wrath. Some people have spotted large stallions tearing down the streets during hurricanes breaking windows with their hooves and their hair lashed out like the wind at anyone caught in its wake. Or how in blizzards wolves were seen trough the haze, their howls carried out on the winds and their bites could be felt it you were lost in the cold.

What ever the desire nature wanted the message was made clear through their preferred animal visage, and this time was no different. Zeroing in on it target the falcon like wind howled in rage. Without so must as a warning as to why the winds rushed forward, the nightmare king right in its path.

Pitch's eyes widened in disbelief at what was happing, the winds had turned his moment of triumph to a moment of confusion. He was suppose to be the one on top the one who was in control of the room, not the one running away in defeat. Shadows which were usually his ally were not permitting him to pass which left his only means of escape his black sands that lingered above the globe.

Reaching the globe was near impossible as the wind descended upon him scratching, stabbed, and thrown him anywhere that it pleased. Slightly to his relief no one in the room had move to help either side in the struggle, probably due to the fact that they were all probably still in shock.

Making either a mistake or doing it on purpose he didn't know, but the winds had finally thrown him near his sands. Not taking the risk Pitch jumped headfirst into the swirling sands, sands that not even nature its self wanted to venture into. With one last manacle laugh Pitch and his sands had vanished just a quickly as they appeared.

Dumbfounded the Guardians turned to face the now calming winds. Gently floating down to the four the winds reached out and brushed the tops of their heads. A warm and calming sensation eased away the tension they were feeling causing them to release the breath that they all held.

"Tell me Wind, what has brought you to our aid? Why have you come here?" North asked what they were all thinking, wonder and excitement filling every word.

Then as a voice so very faint and distance, the voice of wind one could say was heard.

_…Jack …you…go…_

North dropped his swords and his jaw at the most unexpected voice and response. Sandy's face radiated pure joy as he began silently clapping his hands. Tooth giggles aloud and began to flutter all over the place commenting about the beauty it held. It was Bunny who managed to actually gain his composure and speak again.

"You know where Jack Frost is? Can you show us where?"

Nodding its head it began to make its way to the sled, it took only one word to get the Guardians into action and that was the only word it said.

_…Fallow…_


	12. Chapter 12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, are you all ready for another chapter? (What a silly question) Yeah, I just asked that rather rhetorical question. So I see putting the wind in there was not a bad choice after all. Glad you all enjoyed it; now on to the next chapter.

Disclaimer: we all know I don't own RoTG…need I say more?

Chapter 12: Memories Long Forgotten

Pain and exhaustion had caused Jack to retreat within himself. A choice he really hated to make, but did it out of necessity. At first everything around him was silent and dark, a concept that he both hated and feared. He thought it would go on forever until a small light started to call to him. Intrigued by the new development, he pushed his conscious mind forward to investigate.

Before he knew it he was floating in the midst of a raging snow storm. Everything around him was completely white from the kiss of winter. Trees were covered in thick mounds of snow making them lean under the pressure. Any foliage that was there was no longer visible under the layers of snow; and what little trees remained poking out of the endless white would soon become covered.

In his eyes this storm had the makings of a perfect blizzard, one that could cause an entire city to shut down for days. This made a particular question rise to boys mind, who was making it snow? Blizzards take a concentrated amount of energy in order to form, therefore someone or something was doing this. Sure nature could produce some light snow fall when he was not around, but that type of snow would never stick.

Drifting closer to the ground Jack started humming to him self, being in the presence of such wonderful snow made him happy. As his feet made contact with the ground his small smile vanished. All he knew for the last few days was heat, and he really wanted to feel the cool touch this snow would offer. However, his feet seemed to just pass through the mounds as if they were not even there.

At first he was in shock, but then reality started to kick in. "Wow, I should have known this was too good to be true." He mumbled to no one in particular.

Gazing at the world around him began to realize that this was just memory. Thanks to Tooth and Sandy he had been able to make out the difference between the two. Now, he just needed to find out what memory it was. This didn't take long, for through the haze of the storm he spotted his signature blue hoodie.

"Now this is weird, why am I having a flashback of myself as a spirit?"

Watching his former self floating through the air was slightly disturbing, he couldn't quite place why but it just was. Being as he never changed in appearance over the years, placing the time in which this was happening was proving to be very difficult. He even attempted yelling at him self for some kind of hint; it may have failed but he couldn't help trying.

He was almost willing to give up until a small voice sounded in the distance. Obviously the other Jack (which we will call Frost so we don't get confused) heard it as well because he stopped waving his staff around. Both of them strained their ears hoping to hear the sound again. Frost shrugged and started to move on until the voice echoed out again.

"_Mom! Dad! Is anyone out there?!" _the small voice echoed out in desperation_._

Frost rushed forward and found the young boy huddling next to a tall oak tree. Everything about this seemed oddly familiar to Jack as he watched the interaction that took place. Frost had tried to speak to the child but was completely ignored. Kneeling down to the boy Frost reached out his hand and tried to make contact, but to his dismay fazed right trough him.

His presence did not go unnoticed however; the boys head shot up and his eyes popped open. Frost and Jack both gasped at what they had seen, this boy was blind. Frost looked at the boy's entire appearance and became deeply concerned. He was a small child with little to no body fat on him. Draped over his upper body was a light overcoat with a light sweater underneath. Thin high water pants clung to his tiny legs, and small boots encased his feet. His pale face was nipped red from the wind biting at his exposed skin and no gloves graced his hands.

No child should be outside in this weather, especially an underdressed blind child. Frost racked his brain trying desperately to think of a way to get the child to safety. If he wasn't blind he would have used his snow to lead the child to a town. That's when an idea came to him, something he had been thinking about for some time.

Concentrating on the snow at his feet he began sculpting his creation; pushing and pulling the snow until it formed a small snowman. It wasn't much bigger than the child would be if it stood up. Frost looked over his creation with a scrutinizing eye until he was satisfied. With a tap of his staff and a bit of magic the sculpture came to life.

"Sweet it worked! I've got to go bigger next time, but first." Frost pointed out the boy to his creation and then gestured in the direction of the nearest town. As if responding to his command the little snow man made its way over to the boy.

At first the boy freaked out at the cold contact of the unknown being, but as it waited patiently the boy began to settle down. Taking his small hands he began to poke and prod the silent being in front of him. He giggled and laughed as his fingers told him what his eyes could not.

"_Hello little snowman, have you come to take me home?" _ He asked in a shaky yet excited voice. Wrapping a cold hand around the boy's wrist it began to tug and the boy began to fallow. Frost stood up and started to use his staff to carve a path for the boy and his creation. Sometimes he floated above them, and at other times he walked. The nameless child talked to his new silent friend about anything that was on his mind. Maybe it was a way to block out his fear or the cold; what ever the reason he just kept talking and so Frost just listened.

"_Mommy told me not to go out today; she said it was going to snow. I didn't think it would be this bad though. Daddy is probably going to be mad at me for being a bad boy. Do you think I will be punished Mr. Snowman?" _

"_If I had to guess I would say yes." _Frost responded as if the boy was talking to him.

_"Yeah I think so to. My friends think I do this to get attention, but that's not true! If anything I want people to stop making a big deal over me. I can take car of my self…well except now." _He added sheepishly.

Frost chuckled this boy was a trip. "_Ah what do they know, I think you're doing just fine kiddo."_

"_You know they say that I don't know what's real because I can't see. I say they are the ones that are blind! Danny got coal in his stocking even after I warned him that Santa doesn't like it when kids were bad. Billy lost a tooth and threw it at me rather than putting it under his pillow. What a waste of a penny. Karen told me that the Easter bunny doesn't hide eggs…ok so I can prove her wrong on that one, but I know that he is there! Even the Sandman makes dreams all bright when it's dark, why can't they see that? Speaking of dark Roger said he had a bad dream and I told him he did something to anger the boogieman. The Rodger and Dickson kids had nightmares as well, but the said I did something. ME, the blind kid gave them bad dreams! Can you believe that Mr. Snowman? Hey what's your name, I can't keep calling you Mr. Snowman?"_

Frost chuckled, "_Frosty."_ He joked aloud not expecting anything.

"_I know how about Frosty_?" the boy giggled.

Frost looked at the boy and started to crack up, what were the odds of that? As he started to respond again a new voice rang through the air. It was the boy's parents on the edge of the village. They had made it to the edge of the forest and to safety, their journey was over. Frost hated to see the boy go being as he felt like they actually talked, but he knew that this was how it was meant to be. With the help of the Wind Frost led the boy's parents to the child's little voice.

"_William Johnson you naughty boy, what have we told you about going out in this weather?!" _his mother cried while hugging him.

_"Momma! You won't believe it, this snowman led me back home!" _he yelled excitedly. His mother and father exchanged worried glances then looked around him.

"_Honey, there isn't anything there." _His mother said gently.

"_No!"_ the boy reached out but felt nothing, _"He was right here it's the truth!"_

The boy's father sighed, "_Maybe the winds of winter brought you home, now come its time you got warm."_

As the family retreated to their house explaining what spirits were Frost shook his head. Yet again someone else was receiving all the credit, and this time it was the wind.

_"Come on wind; let us get back to this blizzard." _

Jack watched as his younger self began to fly away and the scene around him began to fade back to black nothingness. Jack kept playing with the information that he had remembered, there had to be a reason he had seen that particular memory. Every time he had a memory it was directly linked to a situation he was dealing with at the time. That was when something like a missing piece of the puzzle fell into place.

Jolting awake in his cramped cage Jack grimaced, he was so absorbed in his what he had recalled that he had forgotten about the pain. Part of him really hated the fact that he had woken up, but the other part of him was glad.

"William Johnson…Stevie Johnson…of course!" he wheezed, his voice burned as he spoke.

It had finally made since as to why Stevie's story of his grandfather never made since. His grandfather really was seen as a crazy by the friends growing up, that part was true. Heck even his own parents seem to think he was a little strange.

Stevie knew that his grandfather was telling the truth about the mythos, but that didn't mean everyone would. It was starting to make since. So that part of what Stevie said had been the truth. But there was no possible way that little William Johnson had seen Jack Frost; that was a complete and total lie.

In fact the reason as to why the boy was out in the snow was false as well! Stevie said that William (his grandfather) was at his father's house when his brother told him Jack Frost was real; and that he went out to find him. He failed at first but eventually seen him while getting lost. Sure the boy was lost and Jack led him home, but it was by accident.

William didn't have a brother if Jack remembered correctly. As he remembers it William was an only child who first heard about the winter 'spirits' from his father the day Jack rescued him.

Jack couldn't understand how or when the truth of the past had become so distorted. Jack wanted nothing more to ask Stevie but much to his dismay the boy had yet to return to the attic. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but he was sure another day had passed after he had fallen to the heat. Stevie was really sticking to his 'I hate you' stance and Jack was concerned.

Everything about all of this was messed up, Jack just couldn't believe it. Pulling himself into a sitting position he felt disgusted at his state. As he took in everything: his sweaty form, the memory, the truth, the lies, the cage, the room, the lack of wind, the lack of cool, the heat, the pain, the confusion, the Guardians, that vile Pitch, his helplessness, his thirst, absolutely everything… something just snapped.

Small at first he began to chuckle, then ever so steadily it began to grow. His laughter racked his body producing more pain; this in turn produced more laughter becoming an endless cycle. He felt like he was going mad from all of this.

He paused for a moment to take a breath, but it only made it funnier. Most people would become depressed and angry or even lethargic in this kind of situation. As the Spirit of Fun however, Jack found that all he could do in this situation was laugh. True, from the outside he probably looked like a crazy person. He was after all sitting in a cage, sweating up a storm while laughing his head off. Yeah, sure that was totally normal.

Jack wanted to stop laughing don't get him wrong, he just didn't know how. He didn't want the Guardians; which he knew would be arriving any day now, to see him like this. It was not only demeaning but it made him look weak.

What he wouldn't give to beat the crap out what ever being created heat. Man he just knew the Easter Kangaroo was going to give him a hard time, and that's what made this horrible.

As he laughed, his laughter echoing off the walls creating an eerie tune. Jack looked towards the distant window. Tears of pain began to sting at his eyes but he refused to let them fall. He only allowed tears of Joy and happiness on his face, not these tears of pain and hate.

Not these tears.


	13. Chapter 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone welcome back! I'm so sorry I took so long to update, but we will ignore that fact.

So really quick I wanted to clear something up. I see that a few of you have mentioned that I have been using fallow instead of follow. So I did an experiment and found that my computer kept auto correcting it! I've fixed this so hopefully it won't happen again. If anyone notices any other mistakes please feel free to let me know; I'm using a new computer which is messing with me a bit.

If there is anything that contradicts the books in this chapter please try to overlook it. Everything is as it should be in this particular fan-fiction, (stands up pointing in random direction) and that is just the way it is.

…pause for effect…

Also, I don't mean to offend anyone and if do it is not my intention. If by some crazy reason you are then forgive me.

Well, that's all for now! Forward to the next chapter!

Chapter 13: Over-believers

Belief, a powerful emotion contained within every being in the world. When someone uses it they can change events in time, some times for the better and sometimes for the worst. It is with belief that wars are won, the lost are found, and the sick get well. That is a universal truth for all beings in the universe.

Positive belief is very powerful, but where there is positive there is negative. A man who believes he will fail will fail; just as a man who thinks he will never succeed wont. Therefore, it is very important for the people of the world to hold belief within their hearts and minds. Positive is preferable, but any form of belief is better than none.

Children hold the most powerful belief of all; for they are untainted by the society in which they live. It is because of this that they are able to see the magic that grownups have long forgotten. Magic in the world can be as simple as snowflake or has complex as Christmas. With a child's minds so open to the light it makes it that much easier for the darkness to find them.

Darkness birthed fear, fear birthed nightmares and with them came Pitch. The Man in the Moon, full of light and wisdom had come to understand what Pitch was trying to do. A fear filled being who went unchecked in the world would corrupt and destroy every child's imagination.

The effect would become disastrous, as the children would grow older so would their negative beliefs. Positive belief would become a tiny flame within a room drowned in darkness. Knowing the outcome Manny decided that he would cast his hand into the pot by creating The Guardians. As the years progressed the darkness and negative beliefs dwindled, but the threat was always present. When given an inch Pitch took a mile, he felt the power and was not about to let it go.

A tug of war of sorts had begun and the children of the world had become the rope. In an attempt to insure that they would not lose the children all of the Guardians began to directly interact with them; unbeknownst to them that tipping the scales to much in any one direction could be dangerous. It was at this time that the first Over-believer was created.

At first it was nothing too major, some kids refused to act their age saying that they didn't want to grow up. Other children would continue to get into mischief long after their mischief making days were over. Harmless as it was it was just a prelude of things to come.

All spirits knew what it felt like to not be believed in, even if some of them felt it more than others. Just like how most to all of them also knew what it felt like to have a believer. When they were believed in they were endowed with great and majestic power. The more believers they had, the more power they were given.

Now when a child stops believing in a particular spirit, that spirit feels it both emotionally and physically. Their energy is drained and their hearts notice the absence of warmth it once held. This process is usually brief for even when a child stopped believing and their lights faded, a new child's light would take its place. Therefore, there was never a time when they were without some form of light empowering them.

However none of them have ever felt what happened when a light was snuffed out like a supernova; what it felt like to have a light burns so bright just to vanish into nothingness.

That is until now.

Pitch had found a young girl lost in a forest not far from her home. Her parents had been calling out for her to come back home but she refused to return to them, more like she couldn't hear them. Pitch had caused her fears to grow, but the belief in her hero's was strong. She had played with them, laughed with them, and became friends with them. It was that fact that kept her nailed to her spot as the shadows descended upon her.

Toothina was the Guardian that the child had over-believed in, and it was Tooth who paid the price. Tooth had come to learn of Pitch's plain, but had arrived too late to stop it. Attempting to stand her ground against the nightmare king her little body was overcome with more fear than her little body could handle. As she refused to stop believing the darkness overtook her and her heart gave out.

Like a wave pain burst through the tooth fairies heart, everything in her body ached with a pain she had never experienced in all of her mortal and immortal life. Tears flowed from her eyes with no sign of stopping, even when the other guardians tried to their best to ease her suffering. Her wings refused to function leaving her ground bound for nearly a month. The longer she was downed the longer she was away from the children who needed her. It became an endless cycle of loss and pain; it was with pure will to help the children that got her moving again.

She may have found her way again but things were not the same, she found herself leaving the children at an arms length. North had a similar experience one year when a child lost his life to a snow storm, but he recovered from the loss abet with a heavy heart.

Each guardian had experienced this loss but it took many years and children before they were able to discover the truth. It was not their interaction with the Guardians that caused the children to make the shift form believer to over-believer. It was when there inner balance becomes unstable that an over-believer starts to form. Giving a child something to believe in no matter if it is positive or negative energy could become helpful but also dangerous.

Obsession is always eager to take refuge in the hearts of those who are weak. Once the Guardians discovered this they began to move at once, but healing the balance in children was both difficult and nearly impossible. They almost failed in their quest if it was not for Pitch making his move. It was in this moment in time that all the children in the world were the most vulnerable; seeing their chance to fix everything once and for all the Guardians took it.

In one fail swoop they were able to rid the Earth's children of their imbalance as well as the influences of the Boogieman. Pitch had felt the agony that the others had felt, but his agony was rooted deeper than any they have ever felt. It was because of the over-believer in the world that he had gone into hiding for many a year. To heal, to wait, and to plot his revenge

North's thoughts of the over believers had taken over his mind as they had fallowed the wind spirit to their destination. It was only when the wind jerked the sleigh roughly down did he realize that he had been lost in his memory. He vaguely remembered leaving the North Pole on their mission to save Jack from his misfortune.

He recalled how Bunny who absolutely hated getting into his sleigh didn't complain. With Jack needing his help he knew the Pooka wasn't about to waste any time by complaining. The other Guardians also noticed his lack of resistance but said nothing; they knew the Pooka was swallowing his fear for their youngest member.

Wind hummed around them pulling them all into the direction they needed to be heading. North didn't understand the point of the lengthy trip even if it did give him time to think. He wanted so desperately to use one of his magical snow globes but the wind refused to tell them their destination. Eventually he concluded that the Wind didn't tell them the name of the location because it didn't know it. Being as it was the wind it didn't really need names for places; that could also explain why jack never said 'Burgess' but always said 'home' when he asked the wind for help.

With a crack of the reigns the sleigh jerked forward throwing its passengers back in there seats. North skillfully guided his reindeer through the air, each turn more elaborate then the next. It wasn't long before they cleared the cloud cover and descended to the heated earth below.

"Hang on Everyone!" He bellowed to his passengers as they took a sharp turn towards a wayward town.

"No worries their mate!" Aster half yelped half cried out.

"This place is so hot, I hope Jack is alright!" Tooth yelled through the rushing wind.

Sandy, whose hands where thrown in the air despite the seriousness of the situation, nodded his head in agreement.

North watched with skillfully trained eyes as the wind took another turn towards a small group of houses on the outskirts of a desert town. He waited patiently until the wind settled over a small house furthest from the town. When it made no more movement to venture on North knew they had reached their destination. Noticing the change in North's demeanor, the other Guardians joined him at his side.

"Let's go get our Frostbite."


	14. Chapter 14

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have asked for it, so here it is the next chapter.

I do want to take a quick second to respond to some of my reviewers, so bare with me for a moment.

Darkblade County- Yeah Stevie is a confusing young boy but that's just him. He says he hates Jack but he doesn't mean it. Besides you don't drop a friend just because you don't agree with them, that's why Stevie left him alone for a while rather than telling him to get lost. Also, I am sorry you weren't too thrilled about last chapter. In truth I wasn't either, but now that its over with we can get on with the part we are really waiting for.

Jinnxe ForeverKuran Kinomoto- You're welcome, and I do dislike spell check! I'll have a document all ready to go and then spell check just has to put its two cents in. lol

Pearlsofwisdom- yeah, paste your document here was a mistake…it is ratified in later chapters.

Kyuubecky- Here you are, no cliffs this time…well at least not for long.

Csd- Thanks, I was just covering all of my bases with that little declaimer. Didn't need people getting upset for something so silly you know. (I no not your age but either way no disrespect was taken, everyone calls me kiddo.) Anyways I know the title is misspelled but that was intentional. I could give you the lengthy explanation (and I will if you ask) but let's just say that there is method to my madness and leave it there.

I am sorry for the lack of updates everyone. If it was up to me I would be in front of the computer typing like a mad man; unfortunately it is not up to me and that is why we are only this far in the story. (*Sigh) Thanks to all my other readers and reviewers! Well no more dawdling with lengthy author notes.

Disclaimer: No ownership of RoTG...but if I did have ownership I'd make an epic sequel. (Hey, we're all thinking it I'm just saying it.)

Chapter 14: Arguing with Myself

Stevie had been pouting for what seemed forever, when in truth it was only a day. He really hated to ignore Jack, but he didn't know how else to express his hurt to the spirit. What frustrated him most wasn't that Jack had said those things to him; it was that he had no way to prove him wrong. In his heart something was telling him that Jacks words held the truth. However there was something else inside of him telling him not to listen.

No matter how hard he tried to ignore those painful words, he just couldn't get them out of his head. So, since his parents had left the house to go exploring he found it the perfect opportunity to work out his confused mind.

Why couldn't he do that when they were around you ask? Well the answer to that was simple really. When he sat down and thought about his problems it was more like he was having a conversation with his inner self. This resulted in him occasionally speaking out which caused his parents to start fretting. He hated it when they fretted; there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. Everyone had their own way of dealing with things that troubled them, why was his so weird. That is why he waited till he was alone to think about things.

_You know Jack is right, we have to let him go_**. (*** A/N: bold letters are the child's darker thoughts and the italics letters will be his voice of reason, normal letters is him just thinking aloud. And no he doesn't have a split personality. He is just talking out his problems.)

"But, Pitch said that Jack was just playing with me."

_Pitch…Pitch Black…the Boogieman, since when was he on your good side?_

"Well never I suppose…"

**Don't you remember when he came to you as a friend? All he wanted was to spare you from loneliness!**

_How was what he did really sparing you?_

"He did say that he and Jack agreed to this though…"

_Didn't Jamie say that Jack and Pitch were enemies, why would Jack make a deal with Pitch?_

**Because he knew it was to help you.**

_ You really believe that?_

_ "_Well, no but why didn't jack say anything when Pitch was here?"

_Would you have listened?_

**There is nothing to listen to because it's not true! Jack wants to be here, so why is this even being talked about?**

** "**Because I'm not sure anymore!" Stevie hollered as he stood up and began to pace back and forth.

_It's because you know that this is all wrong!_

**No it isn't, Jack wouldn't be playing games with you if it was.**

_ He did confront you about all of this, and you just ran off! You didn't want to listen to anything he had to say, why?_

_ "_I don't know."

**Yeah, why did you run away? You know it was all a joke right, so why did you run?**

** "**I don't…"

_Why did you run from him and leave him alone up there? _

** Yeah why did you run instead of retorting back?**

_Why did you leave him alone when even you hate it?_

**Why did you run?**

_Why did you run?_

"BECAUSE HE WAS RIGHT!"

Silence enveloped everything after Stevie's outburst. He was finally starting to come to terms with everything that was going on and he wasn't about to let it go. He wanted, no needed to keep going. If he stopped thinking about this now he knew that he would deny it again.

_Right about what?_

** Don't say it; you know it is all a lie!**

"He was right about everything; I did team up with Pitch. I was not in my right mind when I locked him up, I…oh my gosh…"

**Stop! This isn't good for you; nothing will be okay again if you keep going!**

_ Keep going, say what you know is the truth. _

"It was me…I locked him up, I locked up Jack Frost! The one being in this world that was my friend and I betrayed him. It wasn't Pitch it was me, I-I cant, why did I think…what in the world was I thinking!?"

_You were afraid…_

Echoing in his mind the words rang such a harsh truth that his darker emotions all but vanished. No words, no thoughts could tell him that those three words were lying. Deep inside his core he knew that everything he had done, was doing, or could do was because of this fear.

"Jack will never forgive me." He whispered out in slight despair. An ache filled his heart as more fear and sadness seeped into him.

_You know that isn't true, Jack said himself that he wants to be your friend. That he knows you are good and also lonely; he understands you because he is like you. Jack is your friend and he will forgive you._

"How can I be sure though?"

_Go talk to him._

His mind had quieted as all of his mental anguish had been all but resolved. There was nothing else to sort out, no more games to play. The ball was in his court, he had to be willing to serve it if he wanted to continue to be apart of this friendship.

He dreaded every step he took up the stairs to the attic. If he was going to talk to Jack and apologize, it would entail revealing to the spirit his greatest and most guarded kept secret.

Within him was a raw and simple fear, one that he hated to admit to anyone and that included himself. No one knew of his fear for he never let anyone close enough to find out about it. If he was to tell someone about it he was sure they would make fun of him; or worse they would leave him to face it alone. If he had to choose he would rather just pretend that it never existed in the first place.

As the last steps creaked under his weight a small sound from the attic reached his ears. Abruptly he stopped moving and held his breath. At first the sound was distant and inaudible but the longer he waited the clearer it became. What he heard both shocked and concerned him. Jack Frost was…laughing?

Taking the last few steps into the attic the boy looked over to the black sand bared cage. When he was first introduced to the cage that held his friend he thought it was beautiful, this was no longer the case. In the beginning the bars were an iridescent blue and black that shined with an unspoken mystery. Today as he looked at the bars they were an ugly blackish grey that repulsed him like never before.

Focusing on the figure inside the cage he was even more shocked. Jack was no longer floating in the cage like he had been when he left him the day before. Crumpled down on the floor of the cage, his form shook with what seemed to be laughter. Slowly approaching the cage Stevie noticed the spirit looking towards the window, a mixture of emotions dancing across his pale face.

"Jack?"

Turning his head toward the boy the Spirit gave a smile that Stevie couldn't place. It was a smile he had never seen before, and for some reason it worried him. Summoning his courage Stevie walked closer towards Jack.

Jack watched the boy getting closer to him and made no attempted to wave him off. He desperately wanted answers but he wasn't going to ask; his mind was hazy and he couldn't get his body to function like he wanted to. Inside he was afraid to even talk; he wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth at this point. As such he was not about to get rid of the only person who was able to see and help him.

Long and awkward was the silence that dragged on between them. Neither one wanted to speak for different reasons, but that didn't stop them from making eye contact. It finally became too much for Stevie and he blurted the first thing that came to his mind.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Jack tilted his head in confusion; this was not what he was expecting at all. Seeing the reaction and taking it as a no the boy continued.

"I mean if this is a bad time I can leave and come back later. You seem a bit preoccupied is all?"

Something about the way the boy fidgeted under his gaze made Jacks want to laugh. It was ironic really, for the first time the boy was actually showing guilt for his actions and all Jack could think of doing was laugh. Here the kid was actually ready to start listening for once and Jack couldn't get himself under control.

With out warning Jack grabbed his hood and pulled it over his head. His knuckles started to turn white as he held the hood down with a death grip. Stevie took this as the spirit rejecting him and turned to leave.

"Wait-"Jack rasped through parched wind pipes. Stevie's body froze at the odd voice that filled the air.

Turning to Jack the boy looked at him in disbelief, "Did you just?"

Not wanting to speak again Jack just nodded his head, Stevie's eyes widened. How could such a weak and pain filled voice come from a spirit that usually emitted joyous laughter?

"I don't understand? How…What happened to your voice?" he gasped.

Jack chuckled a bit but it sounded dreadful. There was no merriment lacing his voice as it reverberated off the walls. With every new bout of laughter that escaped the spirits lips the more concerned the child became.

Dropping to his knees the boys mouth opened and closed but no words would come out. Crawling closer to the cage he tried to get a glimpse of the spirits face. Before he could get to close the sound of bells rang through the air followed by a loud clatter on the ceiling above.

"What was that?!" Stevie jumped gazes upwards.

Jack however found him self muttering absolute nonsense, "Oh maybe it burglars…or maybe it's a bunch of Ninja!"

Stevie looked skeptically at Jack, "Ninja with bells, seriously?"

"How about Aliens!?" As grateful as he was to hear Jack talking (even with such a pitiful voice) he really wished that he's take this a little more seriously

"Should I check it out?"

"Yeah, but don't forget to take soap with you!"

"Why should I take soap?"

Jake shrugged and Stevie face palmed, "I'll be right back I'm going to go grab the phone, just to be safe."

Once he left the room went silent, but it didn't last long. Voices drifted down from upon the roof. Jack thought he knew who it was, but for some reason the names were escaping him. This was really beginning to get annoying.

Heavy footsteps and a strange humming made there way across the roof and towards one of the windows. Jack refused to lift his head even though he was curious to see who it was. More words drifted in through the thin glass but he was unable to catch what it had said. Moments later a thumping was heard and the sounds that were coming form outside suddenly started coming from inside the room.

"Look!" a soft voice came from across the room; and Jack knew immediately who had come.


	15. Chapter 15

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, here is the next chapter! I was on such a roll and I just couldn't stop at such a point in the story. Oh btw, when I said phone I meant cell phone. He was going to call his parents if it was a burglar he is a kid after all.

So since I had the time I bring to you the next chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own RoTG, only Stevie and any OC I create. Thanks!

Chapter 15: Time Out

Jack knew who belonged to the soft voice that graced his ears. Its softness along the light hum of wings could only belong to the tooth fairy. Tooth was not the only new guest in the room that much he was certain. Even with his senses dulled from the heat induced sickness he could easily make out the shifting sounds of Sandy's sand like body. Nor could he misplace the thumping of Bunny's large feet or North thick Russian accent as it spoke his name from across the room.

"Jack! We have finally found you!"

Jack could here them all rushing towards them, but he couldn't respond to them. Oh how he wanted to say something, anything to let them know that he was fine and that they were worrying for no reason. Words that he knew to be false but he didn't care, if he said them it would make him feel less pitiful. When he tried to speak his throat tightened and burned under the strain. Even his body refused to lie for him.

North looked from the cage to the boy who lay inside with growing anxiety. Taking one of his swords firmly in his hand he swung with all his might at the bars. When it made contact a low hum filled the air and the blade ricochet back with double the force. North could barely catch his balance, needles to say that was unexpected.

Tooth completely ignored the bars and North's attempts electing to check up on Jack. He had not spoken a word to them since they came into the room, and she didn't like it.

"Jack sweetie, are you alright?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

Jack didn't speak nor did he move which caught the attention of the other almost immediately. Bunny hunched down so he was at eye level with the spirit and sniffed the air around him. Sickness filled his nose and his ears flattened on his head. It wasn't a normal sickness, and he could tell it almost immediate. Eyes trailing over the figure he noticed the off white color of his knuckles as he clutched desperately to the edge of his hood.

"Mate, mind telling us what's wrong?" he asked hopefully. He wanted the younger spirit to tell him what was ailing him rather than just guessing.

Jack shook his pain filed head slowly hoping they wouldn't pressure him further to speak. Sandy scrunched his eye brows together in worry at the spirit until they trail up to look at the cage. Reaching out he touched the bars with his small golden fingers. With anger plainly evident on his face he formed a few images above his head. They consisted of a sun, a fan, a nightmare, and Pitch.

"So Pitch made a heated cage out of nightmare sand to hold Jack?" Tooth gasped out looking form sand to the boy in front of her.

Sandy nodded, his spiky hair swaying with his movement. Closing his eyes he focused on the bars that were under his hands. Small black grains of sand started to shift to a glimmering gold but it did not last. It was clear that this sand would not be so easily broken, much to their dismay.

Jacks frame suddenly jumped when the sound of footsteps emanated from the stairs. He didn't know what was going to happen if Stevie came into the room and spotted the Guardians trying to break him out of the cage. How would the Guardians react to the boy, so many questions begin to flood into his mind all at once. However with his hood down and his mind wondering he didn't realize the message he was sending to the other Guardians in the room.

Each of them read the spirits body language as that of fear, not misplaced concern. They grew enraged and defensive of the young boy that shook in front of them. None of them had ever actually met this boy named Stevie before, but right now they were in no mood for being nice.

If this boy was truly an over-believer and was the one causing Jack all of this pain, then they were going to have to be prepared for the worst. Drawing there weapons and standing at the ready they waited. Each of their eyes settled on the staircase awaiting the arrival of the owner of the foot steps.

After a few agonizing moments a young boys head came into view. When he looked up from the stairs his eyes settled on the group in the room and he froze. His mind, his body even his voice seemed to have completely stopped functioning in the presence of the Guardians.

Bunny stood to his full high and clenched his fists, filling rage towards a child was hard but this child was making it easy. Jack may have been a pain sometimes but Jack really cared for him like family, and in Bunny's world no one and he means no one was allowed to hurt anyone he considered family. "Are you the one who did this to him?" he asked coldly.

A small gasp flew from the child as he took in the angered form of the Easter Bunny. It was moments later that he took in the tear filled eyes of the Tooth fairy, fallowed by the disappointed look of Santa Clause. His eyes ended on the Sandman who was tossing a small ball of sand up and down in his right hand; obviously he was egger to let it fly.

When the boy didn't answer Bunny started to advance on the boy, his posture spoke more than his words ever could. "I'm going to ask you again, did you do this?" Jabbing his hand in the direction of the cage the boy started to shake his head, but again he did not answer.

Before anyone else could do anything a voice like nails on a chalkboard filled the room, "Leave the boy alone!"

Everyone's head swiveled towards Jack. His hands no longer gripped the hood of his sweater but now held tightly to the bars in front of him. Slight steam seemed to emanate from his hands making contact with the bars, but no one seemed to deem that important at the moment. What had caught there attention was Jacks voice and his appearance.

In his haste to gain their attention he had all but forgot about his hood, as a result his face was exposed for all eyes to see. Tooth's hands flew to her mouth to restrain a gasp from escaping. North and Bunny's faces held a look of pure shock as Sandy just stared wide eyed in disbelief.

Jack was panting heavily form the forced movement and use of his voice. He was trying to save all of his energy, but they just had to go and make him exert himself. His eyes were deeply set with dark circles gracing them like bruises. Tears of pain seemed to grace his eyes but refused to fall. His normally pale skin held a red tint that looked wrong for even a normal person. Sweat fell down his face in streams and his silver white hair clung haphazardly to his face. Everything about him screamed sick.

"Jack the boy is a threat to you. We must get you out of here before you-" before North could finish Jack had interrupted him.

"Before I become a fluffy bunny I know."

Everyone stopped for a second and shook their head in confusion.

"Did he just say what I think he did?" Tooth asked Sandy, he sand shifted a bunny above his head and looked at the other for an explanation. No one offered one.

"Eh, Frostbite! What in blazes are you talking about?" Bunny muttered his anger towards Stevie temporarily forgotten.

"The boy feels guilty already and it's not all his fault that you're a ballerina." Tooth chuckled aloud before cover her mouth for the umpteenth time that day. She looked at Bunny who stared blankly at the teen.

"I think all of this heat has gone to your head." He retorted, something he probably shouldn't have done.

Jack scowled at him and pressed his forehead against the bars, Sandy winced as he saw the steam but Jack paid it no mind. "What heat cottontail?"

"Yup he's lost it." Bunny turned to the kid and looked at him with a questioning gaze, "Hey, ignoring the goofy parts of that conversation was he serious about you feeling guilty?"

Stevie couldn't believe that Jack had figured that out with what little interaction they had earlier, he had only figured it out that morning. It had to be due to his long life that he was able to pick something like that up that quickly.

"Yes, Jack was telling the truth. I feel horrible for giving in to pitch but I…um, what I mean is… I well."

"You are sorry yes?" North intervened when he realized the boy was stuck for words.

Stevie nodded his head slowly, guilt filled eyes looking from Jack to the ground. North could almost see the inner turmoil that plagued the child; he was no longer the over-believer he once was. Something has happened between the boy and Jack, what ever it was he knew not. All he was certain of was the boy was changing, and it was all thanks to Jack.

"Do you worry Jack won't forgive you?"

Stevie's head flung up like he had been shot, how in the world could Santa Clause know that?! Yeah there was the whole 'he knew when you were bad or good' but this was ridiculous.

"How did you?"

"Let me assure you, Jack will forgive. He may get angry sometimes, but Jack is not one to let it get to him. You talk to him and you'll see." North looked at Jack but then shook his head, "Well, perhaps you should wait until he is feeling a little better."

Jack herd North's last statement. At this point everything that normal and right in his world just simply turned upside down. The heat had taking its toll, and no matter how much he had tried to keep it at bay, the constant exertion became too much.

"Hey I'll have you know I'm felling fine."

"Jack?" Tooth questioned only to get a rather unusual answer.

"Yes mom?"

Tooth straightened up and looked around the room with rosy checks, "M-mom?"

"Uh, Jack I think you should probable just relax until we get you out of here." North inquired hopping the younger Guardian would agree. This was not the case instead it seemed to only drive him further.

"No! I don't want to go to bed!"

"Bed, I didn't…"

"I wouldn't keep antagonizing him North best have sandy knock him out before he hurt himself."

"Oh, we going to build sand castles?" Jack asked hopefully at Sandy.

Sandy looked at the others who nodded in agreement before turning to face Jack. Jack's weary-hope filled eyes made Sandy both sad and happy to have to put him to sleep. Nodding his head yes Sandy aimed the sand in his hand in the teens direction.

Before he could throw it Jack turned to Stevie and pointed at Sandy, "Dog Pile!"

Sandy bulked and dropped the sand ball in anticipation of the sudden attack, but nothing happened. Stevie started moving back and forth around the room confused at what it was he was supposed to do. North was standing ready to catch the boy in midair incase he went after Sandy. Tooth fluttered towards Jack with a 'you tricky little boy' look on her face. Bunny was the only one who didn't move from his spot, he just kept looking at Jack.

Jack just started laughing, who know it was possible o still have fun when you felt so retched. Sandy, no longer feeling a pang of guilt tossed some sand at the trickster instantly resulting in him passing out.

Once the room settled down form the excitement that was Jack, North looked down at the panic stricken child at his feet. "Now Stevie, I think its time we had a little chat don't you?"


	16. Chapter 16

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-"O.O"- …wow…I didn't even realize that it has been this long. You all are liable to thump me a good one at this point. However, I have a very good reason as to why I have not updated until now. First off I caught a horrible case of the flu which had me out for two weeks (still have a slight cough grrr). One top of that I ran out of internet minutes, so even if I did have chapters complete I had no way to post. So I do apologize to you all.

Disclaimer: ah you don't really need this right? At this point you should know yeah?

Chapter 16:

Tooth leaned in close to get a better look at the now sleeping form of Jack Frost. It was clear form a distance that he wasn't feeling good, but she didn't know how bad he really was until closer observation.

Everything about him screamed heat stroke at the most extreme of levels. With labored breathing and the occasional twitch of pain the sight was beyond depressing. She was happy when Sandy hit Jack with his dream sand; perhaps then he would be spared from some of the pain. Much to her dismay, the sands were proving to give little to no comfort at all to the distraught spirit.

All she wanted to do was to take him into her arms and rock him back and forth in a motherly fashion. If she could rid him of even a little of the pain he was in she would. If only it wasn't for those blasted bars! Her attention was drawn back to the bars that confined the young teen, her feathers ruffled with anger and annoyance. It was beyond her how such powerful bars were created when Pitch and this boy Stevie met only once.

After being reamed by Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny for over an hour the boy was more than willing to talk. He was giving them anything and everything they wanted to know. His story started form the point when he first met Jack through Jamie; then it progressed to his encounter with Pitch that one eerie night. He followed it up by how he arrived here and how Pitch left Jack here with him. The boy was like some sort of broken faucet, the moment he started spewing the truth it was like he couldn't stop.

Glancing over at the child her brow furrowed, something didn't seem right about of all this. Given that the boy wasn't in the best of positions to be trusted, he was rather relaxed about the whole thing. He had plenty of opportunities to make up stories or tell lies but he chose not to. So why in the world did Pitch entrust Jacks freedom to a child who could easily switch sides. Pitch was known for playing with a loaded deck, for him to just give Jack to the boy so willingly was suspicious.

According to everything they heard Pitch was doing this to 'help' him. Stevie even told them of a key the Boogie man had given him, one that was supposed to release Jack from the cage. Stevie said he was meant to use the key in order to free the teen if he no longer wanted him around. As he was explaining this part of the arrangement a bit of reluctance was heard in his voice. It was clear that no matter how bad he felt he still wanted Jack around, just not like this. So in order to make it up to everyone, he offered to retrieve the key and use it. He had expected them to jump at the idea but that was not the case. Everyone grew silent, each one absorbed in there own thoughts on the situation.

There was a lot of doubt and suspicion whirling around the idea of this key. Why there was a key when the cage contained no visible key hole was suspicious. Stevie explained that he was merely supposed to throw it at the cage, but that just made them all the more leery of using it. If the boy wanted Jack to go why did he have to have a key? It all just sounded a little too weird to be believed. Each Guardian had there own theory, but none of them could say that any of those theories were correct.

"If Pitch was hoping Stevie would become an over-believer, then why do all of this?" Bunnymund asked from the corner of the room. The sound of his voice carried over the once silent room filling it with his accent.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it Tooth, why would Pitch go to this length? Everyone knows that an over-believer can do a lot of harm with out all of this, so why?"

"Maybe Pitch wanted to be sure that Jack couldn't have a say in it."

"No Tooth, Bunny is right about this. If Pitch didn't want Jack to interfere with his influence on the over-believer then why tell him about it? Jack didn't even know what an over-believer was, but still he went out of his way to tell him. No Pitch is planning something bigger than just this."

Bunny perked up his ears and hopped into the center of the room, a sort of click came to his mind. "Pitch was playing all of us from the beginning; the question here is what his end game is? I bet it has something to do with that key."

"Ah, so you found me out…what a pity." Pitches voice reverberated off the walls and rang in their ears.

Bunny drew his boomerang alongside North who drew his swords. Sandy floated close to Jacks cage in a defensive manner as Tooth stood protectively in front of Stevie. No one made a move to attack as Pitch appeared out of the shadows to stand in there presence.

"So I see that you all have begun to use those brains. I must say I was beginning to wonder if you even had any."

"Pull your head in and rack off or I'll job you!" yelled Bunny, his anger more evident now than it had ever been before.

Tooth's eyes widened in disbelief at her friend's outburst, she has heard Bunny go off in his native slang before but not in such anger.

"Really now rabbit; is that anyway to talk to the man who knows how to save your friend?"

Before Bunny could retort North placed his large hand upon his shoulder. Deflating slightly Bunny stepped back and let North speak, but his hands gripped his weapons all the tighter.

"What ever it is that you're planning Pitch it won't work, why not give up now?"

Pitch shook his head, his eyes trailed over the group until they landed on Jack in his cage. He gave his signature toothy grin at the state the boy was in. Sandy puffed out his chest and floated into Pitches line of vision. Black rolled his eyes at the little man before returning his attention to North.

"Little Jackie doesn't seem to be fairing to well does he?" A wave of anger flashed through the group, "Ooh, I have hit a nerve have I? Well let me assure you that I have no intention on giving up; that just wouldn't be any fun. I just stopped by to give you all a little…advice."

"I highly doubt that Pitch." Muttered Tooth, the others nodded in silent agreement.

Everyone's attention was on Pitch but his attention was elsewhere, for he had noticed something that the others did not. Something that had amused him greatly, Jack had woken up and he was staring right at him.

Authors note: So here is a quick translation for some of you as to what bunny was saying, thought I'd let bunny say some stuff like a true Aussie:

(1) Pull your head in and rack off or I'll job you! : I don't want to listen to you so shut up and leave or I'll hit you!


	17. Chapter 17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~AuThOr NoTeS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

= (^ . ^) = Arigato!

You all are so cool; I can't believe I have a hundred reviews! Yes Motaku 1235 you are number 100! I want to say thanks to everyone, you were all so patient. So I hope this update was a little quicker. You should get another one tomorrow so be on the look out! Also, kyuubecky I am sorry about leaving you hanging for so long, at least your arms are stronger…right…right?

Zuzanny I had a friend tell me about "I'll job you", I think it is a particular states saying. Ill be sure to check that out!

Thanks Ciega Chica, I'm glad that you like it, its always good to hear.

Well here it is, chapter …O,O I lost count…oh yeah 17 lol.

Chapter 17: One Little Slip Up

Being immortal had its advantages; one of the greatest ones was the fact that you didn't need sleep. That didn't mean you couldn't go to sleep, more like it was an option rather than a mandatory action. As an immortal, when you went to sleep was purely a choice. If ever you were tiered enough to warrant sleep, all you would need was 15 minutes worth. What was never mention was this little ability was still active, even when you didn't want it to be.

Jack used to think that being able to wake up after only fifteen minutes was awesome. Now that he was feeling horrible this was the worst ability in the world, all he wanted to do was sleep it all away. Heck even being hit by Sandy's dream sand did little to change that fact. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew the others had the same issue, he would have thought that it was his own personal curse.

Silence that once was he dreaming world was interrupted by the sounds of the waking world. At first it was distant and far away, but that did not last long. Like a speeding train the voices in the room rushed into his ears. So many voices at once caused his already jumbled mind to go into frenzied panic. Accents and emotions interlaced each other in a static like jumble, no matter his attempt to tune them out they seemed to do nothing but get louder.

Prying his eyes open was almost as bad as gaining control of his hearing. Bright lights pierced his corneas with so much intensity that he couldn't shut them fast enough. As a familiar and dangerous voice began to stand out amongst the friendly ones Jack knew he had to open his eyes, even if it was painful.

Against the pain his eyes fluttered open and rolled over the room. Images that were once blurred together started to solidify into recognizable shapes. First it was the bars that confined him, then the backs of his fellow guardians surrounding him and Stevie, followed by the greyer than every appearance of Pitch Black.

Now if he wasn't confused before he definitely was now; one moment he was laughing about something off the wall and the next he is waking up in the midst of a fight. He knew that everything was supposed to be clear but it wasn't, was he hallucinating, dreaming, or was all this really happening.

As he stared at Pitch it took only seconds before the man noticed and shifted his attention to him. A gleam unlike any he had ever seen before lit up the nightmare kings eyes. Events in the room still took place, but to the two of them it was like nothing else was going on. Jack noticed Pitches mouth moving; no doubt answering the question being asked of him, but he wasn't paying them any real attention.

Distantly a voice began to speak to Jack, a voice he was sure to be Pitches. Though how he was able to do so when he was clearly not talking to him via mouth was anybodies guess.

"Hello Jack, you don't look so well." Jack said nothing but continued to stare. "That's alright no need to get up on my account, not that you could anyway."

Jack scrunched his eyes brows in rage, but again said nothing. He knew that Pitch was using the shadows to speak to him. It was a talent he was very good at, even if he didn't use it often. When there was a visible pause and no signs of him taking his turn in the conversation Pitch continued.

"Come now Jack don't be that way, I know you want to say something. You know if you would have joined me when I first asked you to none of this would have happened."

"You really thought I would say yes to join you back then? You were destroying the dreams, happiness, wonder, and memories of the world's children. Why in the world would I ever agree?" he whispered, his voice lost on the louder voices that dominated the room.

"No Jack I was trying to show you the truth, the truth that even now you blind to."

"And what is that?"

"They don't want you around for you, but I do Jack!"

Jack rolled his eyes at the story he has herd so many times before, but he did nothing to stop him form talking. "None of them accepted you until you showed promise, and even then they did not trust you. Last Easter when you tried to tell the truth they still wanted nothing to do with you; they betrayed you with out a second thought. They were supposed to be those who wanted you on their side. Even now they only came because I told them to! Tell me Jack they never came for you in the past when you needed them, not even the moon."

"What are you getting at?"

"That Man in the Moon never once spoke to you, he left you to the darkness of this world where you were to roam unloved and untouched." He paused for a moment to move around the room, after some more annoying banter with the Guardians his attention went back to the teen. "That moon wanted to use you as a tool; he kept you in his cold light for years until you became of use. Yet I was always there, always watching in the shadows of this unforgiving world. I wanted to have you on my side since I heard of your existence. **They** never gave us the chance; we could have been spared centuries of pain and silence."

"You know Pitch these stories of yours are getting more elaborate as time goes on, is that all you ever do? Sit around all day inside your hovel hatching new elaborate lies?"

Pitch rolled his eyes and shook his head; it was timed perfectly to go along with both of the conversations that were happening.

"Tell me Jack how many children could have been spared a frozen death if you had others to help you get them home? How many times had you been forced to rely on your frosty? Don't get me wrong you were quite ingenuous to come up with that little trick, but what did it get you? A child grew up and eventually patented the idea as his own, and you still went unrecognized. What little songs and shows are made up of you depict you to be a heartless soul. Yet here you are, even now you are trying to help a child who locks you away. Not even the children who see you give you the respect you deserve. Why even his own grand father who was so close to being able to believe in you became nothing more than a babbling fool. He showed such promise, and in the end he did nothing but corrupt your image further."

Jacks eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat, "What did you just say?"

Pitch stalled for a moment, it was too late by time he realized what he had said. When he stalled the Guardians stared at him, none of them had yet to catch on that they were not the only ones talking to him. Before he could rebound, and the others could ask a raspy voice boomed trough the room causing everyone to jump.

"What did you JUST SAY?"

Everyone swung there heads around to look at the exhausted spirit. His hands gripped the bars with all the strength he had. He may have been delusional, but he wasn't crazy enough to have missed something as critical as that. Pitch had just inadvertently told Jack something that he shouldn't have, and he knew it to.


	18. Chapter 18

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Authors' Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone, I know its been a while since I updated but I hit a wall where I had no motivation. ~sigh...

I was really worried that I wouldn't get any inspiration; I even started yelling "Come on Jack Frost help me out here!"…Silly I know but then something amazing happened!

Almost two days after I asked for a little frosty help it started to SNOW!

Now some of you may be like 'so what' but you got to understand, I now live in the south. Snow hardly ever falls here; so after sitting on my back porch for hours watching the snow fall (and freezing my self) I was inspired all over again.

Therefore, I'd like to give a hearty thank you to Jack Frost and all of my patient readers out there. Now with my muse restored I give you chapter 18.

Enjoy!

Chapter 18: Twisted Truth

Struck with the realization that he had just messed up, Pitch found that all he could do was stare. He could tell that the other Guardians were oblivious to the conversation that had taken place, but that didn't change the fact that he was in trouble.

Everyone in that room was on the edge, each prepared and ready to attack. Nobody was willing to lash out first; it was as if they were caught up in a dance and no one was willing to take the lead. Pitch was no fool though. All that stood between him and the weapons of his enemies was Jack. It was a cruel irony but he was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Pitch knew very well that if Jack was no longer bound by those bars he would have been under a flurry of attacks. The young man was enraged beyond a shadow of a doubt, and with that much anger it is impossible to know what the outcome would be.

Jack showed his anger only a few times in his life, and that was for good reason. Jacks emotions wear so closely tied to his powers that giving in to any one was very dangerous. The few times that he gave in and let loose of his emotions, disasters have indeed followed not long after. He was aware of this, and as a result subconsciously made an effort to keep himself in check.

Pitch was one of those few people who had witnessed one of Jacks emotional outbursts. Heck, he was even the target of the boys anger at one point in time. Although he was thrilled to finally have someone match him on his level with out the help of others, he still did not want to purposely put himself on the receiving end.

What was happening now was just that. He had inadvertently become the target of this boy's wrath yet again. His goal was to get Jack on his side, perhaps not the most original goal but it was something he strived for. He was close, so bleeding close to getting him to join him with out much strife. Now because of his eagerness he did the one thing he never thought he would do again, he made a mistake.

It was aggravating and baffling how Jack, who was practically deranged and out of it from the heat, was able to pick up that extremely tiny slip up. How was that even possible! For the most part of the conversation Jack was just trying to remain awake let alone scrutinize everything the nightmare king was saying.

Jack's anger at the man was sure to turn the tides of this situation if he lingered here any longer. Yet, if he left now the boy would undoubtedly grow furious and try to lash out. Either was Pitch was beginning to lose his grasp on this situation.

Not now though, he refused to allow Jacks emotion to compromise his plans. He is Pitch Black for crying out loud. This was his game, the card dealer, he was the composer, the producer, and he was not about to let the emotional rollercoaster of an immortal teen change that now.

His mind went into overdrive trying to come up with a way to get out of this situation. In truth he would have been at a loss, but as luck would have it the aggravating little Guardians found there voices once again. It was just the break he needed, and the distraction that Jack did not.

"Jack, you're awake!" Tooth squeaked. Her concern outweighed the happiness that she would have originally felt. Jack had ignored her; all of his attention was on Pitch.

"Well it seems that you all have some catching up to do, so I will take my leave." Pitch turned to leave but Jack grew angry just as he had expected.

Jack wanted answers and nothing, not even his pain filled body was going to stop him from getting it. "Don't you dare walk out now you sick-twisted-little-piece-of …"

"Jack!" North bellowed bewildered at Jacks sudden outburst. He was beyond shocked at the boy's choice of words. He knew the boy was angry at the man for obvious reasons, but he didn't hear pitch say anything that could have made Jack this mad. In fact he couldn't ever remember a time Jack had displayed this much raw anger before.

"Come now Jack you need your rest, perhaps we can continue our little discussion later." Pitch waved his hand in a nonchalant way as he began to slowly move to the far end of the room. This only seemed to enrage the boy more, but Pitch was willing to take the risk. If everything went right, the boy would turn his anger towards his enemies and away from his departure.

"NO! We will finish this now!" When it was clear that the nightmare king had no intention of stopping, Jack's rage hit a level it had never been before. His vision became white and everything around him seemed to fade into oblivion. Jack was starting to tap into a power that neither he nor the others ever knew he had. Not even the Nightmare king in all his years of observing had seen the power that Jack was about to display.

Outside the sky suddenly darkened as thick ominous clouds began to appear. The winds started twist and turn around the house with the ferocity and eagerness of a tornado. A chill that would make even the natives of Alaska shiver descended upon the room.

Tooth's wings stopped fluttering and folded in on themselves to avoid freezing. Her feet hit the floor and immediately she collapsed in on herself in hopes to prevent her heat from escaping.

Sandy began to wrap layers of sand around his form, any piece that strayed to far form him froze over with a thick layer of ice. North noticed the little mans distress and kneeled down to cover his friend. His nose and fingers started to feel hot from sudden lack of heat. If he didn't know better he was starting to get the signs of frostbite.

Bunny took in the whole situation with a rang of emotions. His fur made him the warmest being in the room, so without a second though he grabbed Stevie and held him close to his fur. At first Bunny was happy to see that the spirit of fun was still able to use some of his power, but when the child in his arms started to violently shiver his opinion changed. As a friend Bunny wanted nothing more then Jack to return to his frozen chipper little troublemaker. As a guardian however, his duty to protecting the child in his arms outweighed his wants. Taking the risk of losing Pitch yet again Bunny spoke out.

"Oi Frostbite! Will take down Pitch and get you out of there but you've got to calm down!"

When his words fell on deaf ears Bunny had to take drastic measures, he had to say something that he wish he didn't have to, " Jack, if you don't stop you could kill the kid, and then you'll be unseen forever!"

Although the words were harsh in nature, the results were instantaneous. Everything reverted back to normal, but Jack refused to look at any of them. Pitch had vanished during the Chaos, Jack he had missed the chance to get his answers that he needed.

No one knew what was happening, but Jack didn't feel like elaborating. With his anger and enemy gone, all of the pain and tiredness came rushing back. As he placed his head on the disgusting black bars he could hear the silent questions pouring from the others, it was obvious that they wanted answers to everything. Answers about what he and Pitch 'talked' about, answers about this whole, situation, but more importantly answers about what it was he had just done.

The only problem was, which questions do you answer and where do you start.


	19. Chapter 19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Authors' Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, my beta took a while to get back to me! Any way here is the next chapter! Thank you to all those who have read, reviewed, and kept up with my story thus far. I assure you that If you stick with this you wont be disappointed!

Disclaimer: I don't Own RotG-Just Stevie and this story.

Chapter 19: Just answer the question…

Noticing that Jack was never going to initiate a conversation of his own free will, North took it upon himself to get the ball rolling.

"Jack…I know you aren't felling good right now, but I think its about time that you started explaining some things to us da?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably inside his cage; he really didn't want to have this conversation right now. As much as he hated to do it he knew the only way out of this was to go to back to sleep and hoped that they would drop it.

Bunny caught on to Jack's little plan the moment the little freezer began to close his eyes. Immediately he dropped the child he was holding on to the floor (much to the boys discomfort) and stalked over to Jack. "Oh no you don't, you are not getting out of this that easily!" Bunny picked up one of his giant feet and started kicking the side of the cage. "I don't care how sick you are, if you think I'm going to ignore everything that just happened you've got another thing coming Frostbite!"

Jack grabbed his head as the sound produced by the pooka's forceful kicks echoed annoyingly in his ears. Bunny smirked and jumped back. Bending his legs he crouched down into a ready position, all the energy building up in his legs begged to be released as he held his position. If Frost wouldn't talk willingly, then a few powerful kicks should get him talking.

"Alright I'll talk, just stop hitting the cage you sorry excuse for a Rabbit!"

Bunny stood up and realized his muscles. He felt victorious on two accounts, not only did he get Jack talking; he got him to admit that he was a rabbit. True, later he'll probably deny it saying t was due to the heat, but a victory was a victory none the less. But just to be sure he secured that victory he leaned over to Sandy, "You hear that, he called me a rabbit." Sandman silently chuckled.

Jack glared at his friends. He would freeze them if he wasn't felling so crummy…and he wasn't caged…and he had his staff…oh never mind.

"Now then, what happened?" Bunny crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. Jack knew from that look alone he wouldn't be able to give them vague answers. Any attempt to brush over something or fall back asleep would be countered by another swift kick to the cage.

"Can you be a little more specific?" He retorted, a half smile gracing his flushed face.

Bunny rolled his eye and looked to North who eagerly stepped in, "Pitch seemed quite shocked when you started to yell at him, and even though I didn't hear him say anything his reaction towards you would say other wise."

"That's a statement not a question." Jack chuckled and shook his head.

North face palmed, dragging his hand across his face. Leave it to Jack to act out when they needed him to be serious. Yet again he was the spirit of fun, so rather than getting angry North just changed his tactic.

"When did he speak with you?"

"The same time he was talking to you."

"But that's…" Bunny started to interject but was stopped by North.

"How was that possible?"

Jack started to twiddle strands of his hair between his fingers, "I dunno."

"What did he say then?"

Jack visibly stiffened, a look of rage flashed over his eyes before he masked it with fatigue. It was only there for a moment but no one missed it. "Pitch asked me to join him again, just like when…" abruptly he stopped and sighed he really didn't want to tell his friend about everything.

"Jack?" Tooth whispered fearing the silence that threatened to take over the room once again.

"Sign…it doesn't matter, the point is Pitch wants me on his side."

"Why does he want you on his side?" North asked to no one in particular

"I don't know what he hopes to accomplish, but I know he is willing to go to great lengths and do anything to accomplish this."

Everyone perked up at this, Jack would say something that if this was just speculation. Something had to have happened for him to believe this so strongly.

"Jack, how sure are you about this?"

Jack looked North squarely in his eyes, there was not a trace of doubt in his mind. That alone was enough to get North's worries to go into overdrive.

"What did he do Jack?"

"I think he…no I know he has been plotting something involving the Johnson family for over 65 years."

Stevie; who everyone forgot about being in the room, practically exploded at the revelation that his family had been messed with for such a long time.

"That a lie! There is no way that can be true!"

Jack looked over at the child with sad and apologetic eyes. He hated it when someone was sad or in pain, it was worse when he was the one who made them that way. Yes, he didn't do anything per say, but he was the one who had to inform them of the truth. That alone made him the bad guy, even if he was far from it.

"I am sorry Stevie but I'm afraid that it is."

Without hesitation the boy lunged forward and grabbed the black bars into his tiny hands. Fear for Jack and the boy's safety had the Guardians lunging after the boy, they had hoped to distant him from the cage. That hope was dashed the moment Jack shoed them away.

"How do you know that Pitch wasn't just playing with you? You are the guardian of fun after all."

Jack looked at the occupants of the room and steeled himself, "Stevie, what exactly did your grandfather tell you about me?"

This was the first time the Guardians had heard of this, so to say they were shocked was an understatement. Stevie on the other hand just scrunched his forehead in concentration. Obviously he was recalling the word he spoke of.

"He claimed a pale young man appeared in the distance and lead him to his house when he got lost as a kid."

"And he claimed I got him home how?"

Stevie rolled his eyes in annoyance at having to repeat him self, "by way of moving the snow in front of him, duh!"

"Right…so I led him home by way of moving the snow in front of him. Tell me, if he could see me then why didn't I just point him in the right direction, or tell him how to get back, or better yet just tell him to follow me?"

"He said you acted as if you didn't see him, or was it that you thought he couldn't see you…well it was something like that. But he knew that you were there even if you though he didn't."

"Well if I didn't see him then I wouldn't have been there to help him now would I? So it must be that I didn't know he could see me, so what was it that made me think that?"

"Well…perhaps you were just used to not being noticed so you didn't think anything of it."

Bunny couldn't help but interject once again, "Sorry to disappoint you kid, but there is no way that Frost here would never ever get used to the idea of being unnoticed. Anyone who knows him would know that, heck even when he knows it's hopeless he tries to make contact with people. Its part of what makes him… well him."

"Exactly, so then something must have happened for me to know the boy couldn't see me. Can anyone guess what that something was?"

When no one responded, even when they knew the answer Jack decided to continue on.

"No, how about the fact that when I tried to comfort him I fazed right trough him, or perhaps it was the fact that no matter how much I tried talking to him there was no response."

"That, but he said he knew you were there!"

"I didn't say he didn't, I just said that he could see, hear, or touch **me**"

Perplexed the Guardians looked from each other back to Jack, Sandy took the pause in the conversation to ask Jack the question burning in his and most likely everyone's mind.

Jack noticed the sequence of images but couldn't quite make them out, to this he blamed his heat obscured vision. So he looked to Tooth who was more than happy to elaborate.

"Jack, if the child knew you were there then how come he couldn't make contact with you?"

Jack gave a sad smile but answered anyway, "Tooth, you all know that no one believed in me until recently. So there is no way that Stevie's grandfather could have possible believed in me."

"Now wait you just said…"

"No Bunny listen to what it is I am saying. Little William Johnson, Stevie's grandfather, couldn't see, touch or hear **me **but he knew **someone** was there. He had to of known because that someone led him all the way back home."

"That makes no sense." Stevie mumbled out.

"The ankle biters right Jack, you starting to make about as much since as saying I'm a Kangaroo. You haven't gone all wonky on us again have you?"

Jack made an audible sigh, "Let's look at the facts: I meet little William and helped him get home through a blizzard, the boy had no way of knowing I was there, he knew 'someone' was and that someone lead him home. So how can some one you can't see, touch or hear lead you anywhere?"

Sandy waved his hands around erratically in the air and started pointing to himself. He flashed pictures of Jack, a boy, and then small snowman pushing the child in different directions.

"Jack used a snowman to take him home?" North half questioned half stated. "Then that someone he knew was there wasn't you…It was the snowman!"

"Yup! Leave it to Sandy and North get it right!" Jack laughed aloud.

"Wait just a minute, if that's true then why did the kid's grandfather tell him it was you and not the snowman."

"I already told you Kangaroo, Pitch was messing with him."

"Alright something doesn't make since to me. This sounds like a pretty big memory for a child to have. A snowman saving your life and leading you home in a blizzard is something I don't think anyone could forget. What your saying is implying that Pitch had altered his view of how the world was. My question is, how can Pitch alter a person's memories like that? The teeth I collect alone would prevent something like this form happening."

"That's easy, Pitch didn't change the memory just the main focal point form the snow man to me."

"I don't follow." The fairy fluttered in a panic. This concept was really bugging her beyond all reason.

"I think all of this will be cleared up with one little fact being divulged. Stevie?"

"What?" he snapped defensively.

"Tell me, is the reason you get angry about people bad mouthing your grandpa because they say he doesn't know what he is talking about?"

The boy looked ready to yell again but Jack quickly interjected, "I know you love you grandpa, and it was because of him that you believe in me. I just got to know; don't you think that some of what your grandpa said sounded wrong…even to you?"

Stevie shook his head in violently as tears began to swell in the corner of his eyes.

"Stevie, you know just as I that what he told you was wrong to some extent. You wont become like everyone else Stevie, your better than that. I need you to be honest; your grandfather needs you to be honest."

By now Stevie was shaking violently as tears streamed down his face. "There is no way grandpa could have ever seen you."

"Yes, your grandpa couldn't see me even if he believed. Why?"

"Because…he was blind."

Finally, Jack thought now were getting somewhere.

Well hope you enjoyed this! I'm posting another chapter tomorrow so keep a look out! Feel free to review!

Also yes, Jack is still very sick but he is currently fighting the erg to pass out. Keep rooting for him! (or against if you are hoping Pitch wins)

~ Skye out! ~


	20. Chapter 20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author Notes~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey every body! Thanks for the reviews, I enjoyed them a lot. Also, if last chapter was a little confusing for some of you I'd like to say oops. However this was intentional. This chapter however should be a lot less jumbled. Welp as promised here is the next chapter. Chapter 20! WOOT!

Disclaimer: I don't own RotG, just Stevie and this story. Also, some minor swearing in this chapter not much, just saying.

Chapter 20: Where to go

"Now wait just a minute! What does having this boy's gramps being blind have to do with anything?" Bunny shouted fully confused.

"Bunny I think what Jack is trying to say is that William's memories were distorted due to both time and Pitch."

"What are you mean time, I thought you didn't know how he did it?"

"Well yeah at first I thought it was impossible, that was until I found out he was blind! Blind people have a different way of remembering things, a memory pattern if you will. Most children remember events as a scenario, for someone who has no visual memory to recall on it's easier to become confused. That goes double if you have someone constantly telling you wrong information."

"So you're telling me that Pitch noticed Jack helping William and in an attempt to get Jack on his side he started to mess with the kid. Doesn't that seem a little counter productive?"

"Not if his goal was to give me a believer."

North moved closer to Jack, careful not to touch the bars and spoke in an even tone. "If Pitch could get someone to believe in you, it would have made Pitch look like someone you could trust. This would have drastically changed the outcome of future events if he had succeeded."

"Yes…if Pitch had managed it I think I would have actually trusted him I may not have thought twice about joining him." Jack felt horrible admitting something like this under the scrutinizing gaze of North. Under normal circumstances he would never have admitted it, but his failing mental state along with his guilt was getting the better of him.

"So, Pitch's goal was to get you a believer and not an over-believer?" Tooth chipped in hopefully as she fluttered around the room.

"I can't say for sure if this is correct or not, I didn't get the chance to beat it out of him, but I think that his plans were a little less drastic. It's just a theory, but I think he wanted to get just one kid to believe in me. He didn't take into account that he wasn't the only one having an effect on the boy. His family, the town, even his so called friends constantly challenged what it was he said. After some time the idea of my existence and what happened that day became distorted. Pitch probably thought it was a lost cause and abandoned his plan. Years later William became a father and then eventually a grandfather. Even as time went by he still told the story of that day, no matter how wrong it was. Stevie, being a child who had no friends his age to have fun with grew attach to his grandfather who was always talking of magic and adventure. It was then that the kid did what others did not; he took to heart the stories given to him by his grandfather. When people started to bad mouth the old man, Stevie became upset. I mean who wouldn't, that old man was his best friend. The more people raged on the old man, the more Stevie started to overlook the obvious fact in favor for siding with the stories."

"Oh poor Stevie…" Tooth gasped, her small hands flying up to cover her mouth as a gasp of sadness flew over her lips. Floating over to the child she spotted his tiny frame shaking ever so slightly. As she reached out to comfort him Jack began to speak again.

"I think Stevie was so thrilled in meeting me that he forgot all about the pain and confusion in his life. None of this would have happened, but when his family threatened to move again, every doubt came back into his mind and turned into fear. He was afraid that he was wrong, that maybe I didn't really exist. Perhaps he was even afraid that what happened to his grandfather was going to happen to him." Jack looked at the child, and when he said nothing to rebuff his claims Jack continued. "If all of this fear suddenly showed up out of the blue in Burgess, Pitch probably caught on to it and went to investigate. When he met Stevie he must have thought he still had a chance, even if it meant making an over-believer to do it."

Guardians and child alike had a look of understanding wash over them, Jack was right Pitch had been playing with them all from the start.

"It gives me chills to think that a small act by Pitch could have such a rippling effect like this. Knowing this it makes me even more suspicious that he would just give you over to the boy so willingly." North stood tall, one hand rested on his swords as his other rubbed roughly on the back of his neck.

Bunny found his hands fiddling and twisting his boomerangs around, everything about this was unsettling. If everything Jack was saying were the truth and not a delusional bunch of heat induced bologna. Then that would mean that Pitch has been causing his little Frostbite a lot of trouble for a very long time. That was something he did not like nor would he let go without giving Pitch a piece of his mind.

True he himself was sort of a knuckle head towards his fellow spirit on occasion, but nothing he did had ever caused Jack undue harm. Pitch may have been his bad side before, but now he was on his shit list. If anyone knew Bunny they would know that this was a place you didn't want to be.

Tooth's had reached out and began cuddling the child small and trembling frame. Her motherly instincts had once again kicked into over drive. Not only had Pitch messed with her Jack, he had messed with not one but what could have been two of his believers. She did not show her anger like the others did, but she was more than willing to bring her wrath down on Pitch the moment she sees him again. The only regret she had was she didn't nock out more of those disgustingly pointed teeth of his.

Sandy was standing close to Jack's cage with his head down, his mouth twisted to the side in a thoughtful gesture. His arms crossed over his chest while his overall posture indicated that he too was deeply troubled. His thought was interrupted though as a soft whisper left Jacks lips. If Sandy wasn't so close he was sure no one would have noticed it. Leaning in closer he cocked his head to the side in mock confusion to which Jack mumble the words yet again, this time it was even softer but luckily Sandy was an expert at reading lips. The words hit Sandy's heart and his eyes widened in shock. What in the world was Jack 'sorry' about? He didn't cause any of this, it was Pitch's fault.

With everyone lost in their own thoughts (with the exception of the ever observant Sandy) Jack began to close his eyes, welcoming the silence that was now the room. Sandy couldn't believe that no one else was paying attention to the one sick person in the room. He would have screamed at them if he had a voice to do so. Sandy looked back and forth between Jack and the group; the lack of connection in the room was infuriating. Here Jack was apologizing for who knows what and not one person with a voice was able to ask him why.

Sandy flashed a few images in front of the flushed frost spirit, but it was clear that he either couldn't see it or he just didn't care. Sandy stomped one of his tiny golden feet and then turned towards the others. Stalking up to North he grabbed his pant leg and with one really powerful jerk pulled down.

Now in Sandy's defense he was only trying to get the big mans attention, not de-pants him in front of everyone. North's eyes widened in disbelief as he scrambled to retrieve his fallen britches form the floor.

Bunny dropped his boomerangs due to the shock as Tooth fumbled to cover the eyes of the laughing child in her arms. Sandy waved his arms around erratically trying to desperately to explain his actions.

After securing his pants tightly around his waist North swiveled around to the spiky haired guardian of dreams with a look of utter bewilderment, "What on earth was that for?"

Sandy gave a weak smile and kicked the floor like a mischievous child before pointing over to Jack. When the group had regained its composure they turned to Jack to find him once again lost in a fitful sleep. North was both relieved and saddened that the boy was a sleep; if he had seen that little display just then maybe the boy would have a good laugh. On the down side North would never be able to live it down, as it was he was safe."

Sandy formed the word 'Sorry' above his head and North chuckled. "Apology accepted old friend."

Sandy quirked and eyebrow then shook his head. This time it was North's turn to give the confused head tilt. Sandy rolled his eyes and pointed at Jack, his mouth and then the golden words above him. He had to repeat this a few times, but eventually he got the desired result.

"Jack said he was sorry?" North questioned.

"Perhaps he was sorry for falling asleep again?" Tooth mused.

"Nah, if he was saying sorry I bet it was to the little ankle bitter here." Each of them looked down at the boy who in turn looked up at them.

"Who me?! Why would he apologize to me?"

"I'm not even going to attempt to understand the way he thinks, we'll just have to wait until he wakes to find out." Bunny remarked picking up his fallen weapons.

"Yes, but we can't wait around here. Jack hardly ever sleeps, if he's asleep again so soon then he is getting worse. North, we have to get him out of here and soon."

"You are right, we have spent to much time here as is." North looked over the cage with a calculating gaze. "We can't get him out by force, and I don't have any desire to use this 'key' unless it is a last resort. If only we could move the cage its self to a colder clement, maybe then we will have more time to formulate a plan."

"And how do you plan on going about that mate? This cage took a lot of my most powerful kicks and didn't budge."

"Da, this I know. I have thought of hooking it up to the sleigh, but something tells me that it would not go so well."

"Hey, why not ask the wind for some help? It lead us all the way over here with no problem, maybe we can get its help again?" Tooth asked, her wings quickly lifting her off the ground.

"Yah? Tell me do you know how to talk to the wind, because I don't know about you but I'm not real fluent in wind. That's more Jack's department and he doesn't seem to talking to me."

"Well it came to us once before, maybe we could just yell out and it will come back." Bunny gave Tooth a 'yeah good luck with that' look and hopped over to inspect the cage along with North.

"It was just a thought." Tooth mumbled.

"Um…" Stevie's began.

"What is it sweetie?"

"I want to help to! This is my fault after all; I got to make it up to him."

North beamed brightly at the child before him, "It looks like someone is well on his way to making the nice list."

"Really, that all you can think to say at this moment?" Bunny retorted.

"What, everyone wants to be on nice list!"

Stevie smiled at the goofy guardians, he was so ready to be on their good side.

"So what can I do?"

Sandy looked at Jack and then suddenly smiled brightly, a light bulb appearing over his head. Floating over to the boy he flashed him a question mark. Stevie took note of this and gave the little man his full attention. Once Sandy knew the boy was paying attention he formed a very detailed and life size model of Jacks staff.

"Sandy you're a genius! If we got Jack back his staff, his power will increase dramatically. It may give us just the advantage we need in order to free him." North was practically dancing at his revelations. Sandy gave him an elaborate bow before retuning his attention back to the boy.

"Yeah, I know exactly where it is!" Every ones disposition seemed to brighten at this news, at least until Stevie slinked back and scratched his head in a guilty fashion.

"That's great, so where is it?" Bunny asked, titling his head forward. He looked to be in no mood for games so Stevie opted to speak up rather then beat around the bush.

"Before I left Burgess, Pitch told me to put it somewhere where it would be safe and out of reach. He said it would just cause harm to Jack if it was with him while in the desert. So naturally, I left it back in Burgess rather than taking it with me."

"You have got to be kidding me." Bunny threw his head back and placed his arms over his head. Of course things couldn't be easy for once, that was just there luck.

"So we go to Burgess, get Jack's staff, then come back here and break him out. Piece of cake! So where in Burgess is it?"

'Jack's Lake, but what if Pitch sees this coming and beats us to it?"

"Oh, I want him to be there. At least then I'll be able to take out all my frustration on him." Bunny practically growled out his response.

"Right, well we best be going then. Bunny, Tooth, Stevie and I will go to Burgess to get Jack's staff. Sandy you stay here and keep a look out for Pitch." Sandy saluted and molded a make shift helmet and gun out of sand; he then placed a little barrier of sand around himself and the cage. North couldn't help but chuckle as the Sandman started pacing back and forth.

Without giving North the chance to mention the sleigh Bunny tapped the ground twice and dropped the crew down into his tunnels. The pooka needed to burn off some steam, he wasn't about to let Clause ruin that for him.

Whoop, okay guys here you are. I'm beat, so I'll end it here. Yeah, Jack didn't answer all of their questions but everything will become clear in due time.

Review if you want, see you next time!

~Skye out!


	21. Chapter 21

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the delay everyone…to be honest I have been in the midst of typing 3 new fan fictions for all of you! I haven't posted them yet, but they should be up in the next few days! So if this one was not updated you know why. That doesn't mean I have stopped this one, not by a long shot!

Now, I'm super glad to read your reviews! Glad to see you all approved of the last chapter! Here is the next installment! Enjoy!

Disclaimer…It's the same as always…I don't own anything except _this_ story and Stevie.

Chapter 21: Cracked Ice

Bunny was (excuse the pun) hopping mad when they had arrived at Jack's Lake in Burgess. Everything that could be going wrong was; all the snow and ice was melting into a muddy mess, the child couldn't remember where exactly he hid the staff, the kids of Burgess were still in school so they were no help at all, and on top of that Pitch was sending the occasional annoying Nightmare their way.

Sandy wasn't there to quickly vanquish them which left the three of them to juggle protecting the child, fighting the enemy, and look for a wooden staff in the woods. Yeah, this was turning into a quick trip. Locating the crooked staff of the winter spirit should have been a piece of cake. It practically glowed blue; it should have stood out in this melting forest. That was until they were reminded of the fact that Frosts staff only really glowed blue when in the winter spirits chilled hands. A collective duh echoed silently within the group when that little fact was realized. Talk about a horrible moment to remember an important fact.

North took the up protecting the child as he looked about the forest for anything that would strike a memory. Tooth flew about the forest in hopes to locate the wayward staff, while Bunny more than happily took to assaulting the offending black stallions.

When their search reached the two hour mark Stevie started panicking, "I don't get it, I could have sworn I left it right here!" he bellowed aloud.

"Its okay don't worry, we'll find it I'm sure." Tooth called form the tree tops.

"No Tooth the boy's right, this is taking way to long. Even with all of this mud he should have found it by now." Bunny seethed as he approached the group.

"Don't blame child Bunny, he is trying his hardest." North whispered to his fury friend.

"That's not what I'm talking about North." Bunny glanced around the wood, his ears twitching in every different. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this is just what Pitch wanted."

Tooth's eyes locked in on Bunny's, iridescent purple eyes studied bright green ones. No word needed spoken, in that one look Tooth understood what Bunny was getting at.

"Pitch wanted us to leave Jack and come here, but why? What could he have gained from this? Jack was already in a cage and we had no way to break him out."

"No, we had one hope of breaking him out without using that key." North commented.

Tooth raised her hands to her chest as if she was hiding something precious from the world, "Pitch is devious, but he couldn't have anticipated this."

"Anticipated what? That you all would search for Jacks staff here in this tiny town?" an eerie voice bounced offs the trees. "Oh but I have. In fact I was counting on it."

Turning on a dime Bunny chucked his boomerangs at the Boogie Man, "I'm not interested in your monologue Pitch."

"Oh, but it was such a good one too." The shadowy figure moaned as he sidestepped the projectiles. Lunging forward he formed a sand scythe and sung it dangerously close to the rabbits head. Without missing a beat the pooka dodged the blade and tossed several egg bombs. A forgotten Nightmare sprinted from behind his master and took the hit instead blasting it to dust. Without waiting for the air to clear Bunny hopped forward hoping to get in a lucky shot but was greeted with empty space.

"Hiding in the shadows like always I see!" Bunny huffed in frustration.

"Come now, do you honestly think that I would waste my time fighting you?" Pitches silky voice hummed among the shadows.

"What are you after Pitch?" North inquired. Bunny gave his friend a questioning glance.

"Hmm yes indeed that is a good question, but what you should be asking is what am I not after."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stevie scrunched his face in confusion.

"Ah, you brought the child with you how nice. If you were hoping that he will help you in defeating me then you are mistaken."

"You see that's where you're wrong, he isn't here for you."

Pitch reappeared not far form the group; his head tilted back in a snobbish manor, it was obvious he was looking down his nose at them. With eyes slanted in a calculated gaze his lip twisted up into a smirk. When the Boogie Man was smirking, it meant trouble for the guardians.

"I see that means you haven't come to take this back then?" With a slid of hand Pitch pulled form behind his back the staff they had all been searching for. His eyes trailed over each of the guardians taking pleasure in the looks he was receiving.

"Pitch you hand that staff over right this instant!" Tooth shouted.

Pitch's eyes flashed dangerously bright, "and if I were to refuse?"

"It would not be very wise." North replied. Drawing his swords from the scabbards North prepared himself for a fight. Pitch just shook his head back and forth.

"You can put those away; I have no intention of fighting you. In fact I am feeling a little …generous."

"Generous like a cavity." The fairy seethed.

"You want this staff back so badly? Fine it's yours…but first." Before a single person could move Pitch grabbed the staff and held it above his knee and in one swift movement snapped it in half.

Absolute bewilderment took hold of the group of Guardians. All they could do was stare helplessly as the two halves clamored to the forest floor. Not only did they fail in retrieving their Winter Spirits means of power, they were all but helpless to stop their greatest enemy from destroying it.

Pitch chuckled darkly and vanished into the shadows once again taking with him all of his nightmares. Bunny made his way over to the broken staff, his ears flattened down along his back at the sight before him. Portions of the wood splintered off into various directions where it once was smooth and flush. Picking each piece up with gentle hands he made his way over to North. They placed them into an empty sack that North carried on him and slipped it into a safe location on his person.

No one in the group knew why they decided to take the broken tool with them; it just seemed like the right thing do. Leaving it behind broken in the mud would have been the ultimate disgrace.

Bunny tapped his foot to the ground once again preparing for their journey back, and as much as he wanted to see frostbite he had know idea of how to break the news to him. Frost had his staff with him even before he became Jack Frost, the loss was sure to crush him when he discovered what had happened to his most prized possession.

If Bunny only knew what breaking the staff had done, if only he knew.


	22. Chapter 22

`````````````````````````````````Author's Notes``````````````````````````````````````

ʘ┌┐ʘ ! You guys are soooooo awesome! When I read all the reviews I started laughing with so much joy that I squealed! (Which when done in the car behind my friends mom who is driving is not the wisest of thing to do I must admit...*cough cough*) I am so glad that there are so many of you out there that truly like my story. So I wanted to say a few words to a few of y'all.

Wintergirl - I am so glad you enjoyed my story so much, I must say you were the main reason for me getting chewed out for freaking out in a car. LOL It's not a bad thing so don't freak! I hope the story continues to impress you in the chapters that are soon to come.

GreenForestyne- Glad your hooked. Thanks for the compliment! You made me very happy.

Motaku1235-heeeheee I admit that when I saw your message I did a little evil grin…think I creped out my friends. Ha the irony, but you will have your answer in this chapter.

Kyuubecky- My friend! I have not forgotten you at all, far from it. I seen you hanging and yelled, "Wait! I'll get you a rope!" that is why it took so long to update. I couldn't find any ROPE! lol

Darkblade County- O.O you always know what I'm going to write…are you like a thought ninja?! That would be awesome! What am I thinking now? Wait don't answer that it would spoil the chapter.

To all the rest of the reading world fear not! I have not forgotten you nor have I forgotten this story. Well we all know the disclaimer and I have wasted enough space chatting. Let's get to what you really came for.

Chapter 22: Sand in all the wrong places

Deep within his being a pain erupted with such ferocity, that all of air within him was ripped forcefully from his lungs. What comfort he found in sleep had all but vanished as he was brought back to the waking world. Frantic eyes darted around the room looking desperately for what he knew was missing, his staff.

Sharp pains pulsed through every inch of his being causing his body to shake violently. There had only been one other time in his whole existence that he felt a similar pain, a moment in time that he had wished never to experience ever again. A time where Pitch had held on to his one outlet of power, and with out a second thought broke it in half. Back then it felt agonizing to have the staff destroyed; it was as if his chest was being stabbed repeatedly with a thousand needles.

This time, much to his displeasure everything was different. It was as if a part of his soul was dieing, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Tears began to flow freely from his eyes, his ill state preventing them from freezing like they had done many times before. Any pain caused by the heat had long been forgotten, as if its presence was non existent in the young spirits mind. No more did the fatigue threaten to consume him, for the hands of panic had their grip upon his mind. Without regard for his safety Jack flung himself at the cage bars, the racket startling the spirit of dreams from his makeshift patrol.

Sandy was shocked to say the least at the sudden activity form the younger spirit. Jack grabbed the two bars directly in front of him firmly in both hands, he bang pulling and pushing at the bars in every possible direction. Leaning backwards he tried with all him might to get the bars to budge even an inch. When no such movement came he changed tactics. Leaning his back against the bars (disregarding the searing pain that cut into him) he reached above him gripped the bars there instead. Using the muscles in his abdomen he lifted up his legs, with all the strength behind it his legs launched forward making contact with the other side of the cage.

Baffled at the sight before him the little man started to float around the cage. If he could think of a perfect example of what he was seeing it would be that of a freshly shaken snow-globe. Although silent and beautiful when untouched it becomes a world of chaos when disturbed. Therefore, something had obviously disturbed his friend into his chaotic fit. Freshly falling tears and shaking limbs were more than enough proof of that.

Attempting to figure out what was going on was impossible, the boy was either ignoring him or completely oblivious of his presence. Which ever one it may have been became irrelevant, for all the guardian knew was that situation was getting worse by the second and he knew it. Jack may have been there physically, but mentally he may as well have been on the moon.

Knowing that putting him asleep was not an option and getting him to talk was out as well; all that was left was option number three. Closing his eyes and bowing his head he stilled himself for what he was about to do. Lifting his head just enough so that his eyes were viable the man clenched his fists tightly. If Jack wanted out of this cage that badly, by the moon he was going to help him try.

Quickly the golden man drifted over to one of the tiny windows within the room; with a smidge of guilt he destroyed it. True he could have gone through the glass but he didn't want anything getting in the way of what he was going to do.

Willing his dream sands to do his bidding, golden tendrils streamed from his hands and out the window. With a slid of hand a heard of golden stallions appeared, each one nickering and stomping their hooves in anticipation. Sandy tilted his head ever so slightly shaking it gently, the horses all stilled at the gesture.

Forming thick ropes around each stead, he weaved them together until they formed a strong line. Giving it a once over to check for any weaknesses he then floated back to the cage; he really wasn't sure if this was going to work at all. Not that it mattered really; if this was to fail then he would try something else. It was just…he really wanted this to work.

When one of the stallions whinnied from behind, he knew they were ready to go. Not wasting another second he quickly tied the rope around a few bars and snapped the rope. Each horse reared and took off in the opposite direction of the house, unfortunately they didn't get far when the rope became taught and halted their progress. Pulling and struggling under the resistance they began to kick up a storm of dust. Sandy was staring to have second thoughts, after all it was day time and people were awake. Chances of being spotted were a very high possibility; or so he believed.

Out of the blue the way ward winds blew gently across his face, their touch as gently as a butterfly kiss. Blushing a ghost of a smile found its way unto his lips, was this what Jack felt when the winds interacted with him? If so, then Sandy knew why the winter spirit liked it so much.

Pulled form his thoughts Sandy watched as the winds rushed outside and swirled around the golden beasts. At first it was unclear of their intent, but when a wall of dust mixed with sand began to form he understood. They were forming a sand storm to detour the eyes of onlookers. Anyone who saw a sandstorm would run for cover, not run towards it. Sandy made a mental note to thank them late; or have Jack do it for him.

Returning to the task at hand Sandy's eyes widened with disbelief, black ropes were beginning to replace his golden ones. Reaching forward his fingers trailed over the darkened thread, when he made contact it reverted back to its original state. Working fast he made sure to fix each corrupted piece. The process was endless however; once he finished with one area a new one would take its place. It was clear that contact with Pitches nightmare sands still had an effect on his dream sand.

Eerie as it was a sort of rhythm fell over the area: Jack hitting the cage, Sandy rubbing an ever breaking rope, strained neighing from the herd out side, and the howling of the Winds. It was a view no one wanted to see, but it was the one that the other Guardians had returned to.

North, Tooth, Bunny and Stevie hoped out of the rabbit hole expecting to see the room just how they left it. Jack resting his ill stricken body; and Sandy paced back and forth protectively around the cage. What was going on before them was the complete opposite of how they left.

Being the first out of the hole, Bunny took no time inquiring a status report.

"What in the blue blazes is going on around here?"

Sandy's head shot up form the sudden voice, but did not stop working on his task. Sparing a little sand to speak; he informed them of Jacks sudden change, he was almost positive that it had something to do with the staff.

Nodding, Bunny retrieved the broken staff from the sack. Sandy cocked an eyebrow but received no explanation. Patiently Bunny waited for Jacks' reaction; he half expected the boy to yell and start blaming the moon or some such nonsense. It hurt to know that they had yet again failed in aiding the younger spirit. He had hoped that breaking the staff wouldn't affect the younger spirit all that much. When Jack made no move towards the staff Bunny started to worry. Sure it was nothing but two sticks now, but at least they had it back in their possession.

"Hey Frostbite, I know it's not what it used to be but we got back your staff." The only response he received as Jacks back as the spirit looked for a new way of breaking out.

Frustrated the Pooka tried again, "Hey, were trying to help you out here ya bloody show pony! The least you could do is at least talk to us!" again there was silence.

Taking one of the sticks he tapped it on the bars lightly, to his disappointment Frost ignored him. Jack's eyes were glazed over with a mixture of emotions, some of which Bunny could not place. For the most part he was sure it was something along the lines of being hurt, angry and frightened. It was clear that there would be no getting trough to him while he was like this.

Bunny looked to Sandy and then the others, "If we are going to get him talking will need him out of that cage."

"Well Sandy seems to be on the right track. She we just start pulling along side him? If we get enough leverage onto one side it's bound to break."

"Hmm…It is possible, and there is no harm in trying. Sandy can you make more of your ropes?" North combed his beard with his hand. Sandy nodded vigorously and began to produce more rope.

Tooth flew over to his side and looked at his creation, "Will you be able to keep all this stabilized as well as preventing it from overrun?"

Sandy puffed out his chest in a proud gesture; it spoke 'of course I can' and 'what kind of guardian would I be if I couldn't'. Tooth just giggled as she took the newly created ropes, "Alright I'm ready!"

Bunny hopped over to the over zealous fairy, "Lets just hope this works."

North smiled at his fellow guardians, "It will work."

Zooming out the window the three made their way atop the roof. Tooth and Bunny tied the ropes to the sleigh as North ready his deer for the task at hand. Bunny refused to get back in the sleigh and opted to say inside with Sandy. Tooth wanted to stay with clause, but he urged her back indoors. With the wind and agitated air currents she would be grounded.

A herd of sand stallions, Santa and his reindeer, Sandy, Bunny, and Tooth were all pulling on the same bars of the cage. With so much concentrated effort it should have easily broken; yet it never did. Stevie looked on helplessly as everyone fought to free the winter spirit from the cage.

Don't get him wrong he wanted to help; he just had no way of doing so. He tried pulling the rope along with the others, but that did little to nothing. He took on the task of cheering on Santa and the horses, but soon realized that he couldn't be heard over the winds. Next he attempted to destroy the bars along with Jack him self; that earned him a few close calls with a stray fist. It would seem when one swings wildly at a cage of sand, the chance of missing the bars and hitting someone else was very high. After the near misses he was shoed away by a concerned Tooth whose motherly side kicking in.

As the two moved from the activity Jack started to yell incoherently, his outburst startling everyone. His yelling picked up in pitch and volume until it was more like screaming. No words laces his voice, for there was no word to describe what he was feeling.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed to the boy's side. Each one of them tried desperately to get information out of the boy, but nothing was working. Stevie couldn't believe what he was hearing; the screams of the spirit chilled him to his core. The longer he sat there doing nothing the more despair filled his heart.

He didn't care what the other guardian thought anymore, his sole concern was saving his friend. Taking out the tiny black key he raced forward towards the cage; he was so glad that Pitch left him the key instead of taking it back when he refused it. In hindsight it was probably a bad move in using it, and it could really be all part of some grand plan. At this point however, Stevie could care less.

"Jack I release you from this cage!" with that he chucked the key at the cage, praying that it would work.

Dun Dun Dunn! Cliff hanger! Tune in tomorrow to find out!

~Skye out


	23. Chapter 23

``````````````````````Author notes```````````````````

Sorry guys for not updating sooner! I know I said stay tuned tomorrow but that turned out to be Easter, then the next day was my friend's birthday. Okay no more excuses here is another chapter. *Sweat drop* my bad everyone.

Chapter 23: Free…..

Not one person in the room was able to prepare themselves as Stevie tossed the mysterious key at the cage. North could have sworn that everything in the room was moving in slow motion; his muscles froze locking him in place. Tooth, even though she stood right next to the boy, was unable to reach the key as it flew from his tiny fingers. Bunny lunged for the key but as luck would have it, he was just short of reaching it. Sandy's energy was so concentrated on his task that even if he wanted to help he couldn't

With the gentleness of a feathers touch the key grazed the cages surface. Instantaneously all the light in the room dimmed remarkable low; it was though the light was nothing more than a flickering candle.

Dark sands began to eat away at Sandy's ropes, the darkness spreading across them like a fast growing disease. Horror played across the dream guardians face at the effect that one key was having. Then without warning an unseen force emerged from the darkness knocking everyone off their feet; anyone who was unfortunate enough to be near the cage experienced an extra harsh push. Dazed and confused the group tried their best to return to their positions around the cage. North's hand swung wildly in the air trying to grasp at anything to help him up. Tooth and Stevie supported each other back to their feet; Sandy crawled haphazardly towards the cage while Bunny was the only on who made it to his feet.

At first Bunny was able to make it within a foot of the cage before the force would return and push him back once again. His green eyes traced every inch of the bars that stood unrelentingly in his way. Each mineral within the bars shifted and churned with a greater darkness than before. It was like the sands themselves were alive, and for what ever reason they were preparing for something sinister to take place.

Fear was not in his vocabulary before, and it he'd call him self a kangaroo before he would let it be there now. Flinging himself towards the cage yet again he steeled himself for the blow that was sure to follow. Sure enough the unknown energy surged forward and collided with rabbit matting and compressing his fur down to his chest.

Despite the intensity Bunny was able to push through the energy and make it to the cage. Knowing that Jack couldn't hear him Bunny took the two halves of the spirits staff and tried to force it pass the bars. Each time he tried to pass the wood through the bars they would expand, decreasing the space into nothing more than a few inches. It wasn't his best idea, but it was the only one that came to mind.

Jacks head lifted up in Bunny's direction, even in the darkness of the room their eyes were able to connect. Bunny's eyes spoke of concern, hope, and determination while Jack's eyes spoke of pain, sorrow, and confusion.

"I can't keep doing all the work you know!" the Pooka yelled at the younger spirit, slamming the broken staff against the bars.

No one was sure if it was Bunny's yelling or the familiar presence of his staff that got the boy to react, what ever it was they got the desired effect they were hoping for. Jack reached out to the bars and tried to help keep them apart as his friend pushed the staff through.

This went on for only a few moments before the others had joined in the effort; just as they expected the added help did little to nothing. Just when it looked like maybe, just maybe they would be able to come out on top, things took a turn for the worst.

Every bar in the cage shimmered darkly, "Everyone let go!" North ordered, everyone complied and not a moment to spare. Practically exploding, the sands spread out into the room, each piece floating out into the air. Darkness covered the room snuffing out what ever light was left.

"What's going on!?" Stevies voice quivered with fear.

"Don't worry little one, we won't let anything happen to you." North's accent echoed in the darkness.

"Sandy where are you?" Tooth squeaked

"Don't tell me you actually expect him to say 'over here'" Bunny's sarcastic voice drawled.

"Hey he could do something like-OW! Who pinched …oh hey Sandy, yeah something like that"

"Jack are you alright?" Stevie called out into the darkness.

No reply.

"Hey the little tyke is talking to you frostbite, say something." Bunny called out.

"Can someone get us light? Sandy how about your dream sand, think you have enough to light up this place?"

Small flickers of golden light shone to North's left, it was clear the little man was trying his best to accommodate them despite his tiered body. North contemplated on stopping him but changed his mind when a solid orb of golden light solidified in Sandy's hands.

Drifting up to the ceiling he held up his arms, the light reflected off the ceiling proving light to the rest of the room. It was clear that the explosion through them all for a loop, but other than that nothing seemed wrong.

North walked away from the small group and over to the direction he last seen Frost and the cage. If Jack wasn't talking then the chances that he was injured or unconscious were very high.

As he neared his destination he was greeted with a sight that most unusual. There floating in the room, silent and unmoving sat Jack Frost, his skin no longer holding its ghostly white complexion. Instead his skin tone was that of a deep blue, a blue most commonly seen in the darkest part of frozen ice. Hair, that was once a silver white, now looked so blue that it could have easily been mistaken for black. With his head hung down it was unclear if his eyes had changed as well, and for that North was glad.


	24. Chapter 24

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just got back from a great vacation and though what better way to start my new week than with the next installment of this story.

*yells out* Hey Kyuubecky still need that rope? I think ill invest in repelling gear for you…hopefully we wont have to use it tough lol.

Well then here you are chapter 24 enjoy!

Chapter 24: Melting …Freezing

_I'm so cold…_

_I like the cold but…_

_Why can't I feel any warmth…?_

_Where did all the warmth go?_

_Was there any warmth there in the first place…?_

_There was heat here but…_

_…I don't want heat…_

_…I just want warmth._

_I can be cold and warm at the same time right?_

_It's so dark in here…_

_…and I'm so lonely…_

_…where did everyone go?_

_There were others here too…_

_…at least I thought there were._

_I am looking out in front of me but…_

_…why can't I see?_

_This isn't fair…_

_What is going on with me…?_

_Why can't I…_

_…remember?_

Frightened. If there was one thing in this entire world that he was sure of was at this moment he was frightened.

Everything in his world seemed to have vanished within a fraction of a second. Darkness consumed him completely leaving him suspended in the blackened confines of his own mind. Fully aware and alert with no sensory input was enough to make even the strongest of minds go insane. Seconds would feel like days, days would feel like years and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

Sounds refused to enter his ears making him feel like he was deaf, smells and taste of any sort was out of the question as well. His vision seems to be just as useless to him, he would have blamed it upon heavy eyelids but the truth was he couldn't feel them.

In hindsight he would be fine if he couldn't see, hear, smell or taste. Not only did he not eat much, he didn't really care to smell anything either. He was use to not speaking to people so his hearing was not all that important; sure he like the sounds of laughter but he was willing to lose it. Sights of the world changed overtime, but once you've seen it all he figured that it would be okay. What wasn't okay and what he should have easily been able to adapt to was the loss of touch.

No one ever really touched him any way, and what little contact that he had with the world was a dose of cruel cold irony. People passed through him when ever he got to close which left him with a horrible feeling of dread; so why of all the things in this world would he miss touch the most. Perhaps it was because it was the one thing he craved for most in this world. Losing what little feeling of touch he had made him feel like surrendering.

Floating aimlessly amid his thoughts, he found it increasingly difficult to think straight. Every moment a new question or thought would ring out into the abyss, and even though he knew he knew the answers, he just couldn't seem to recall them. It wasn't like they were hard inquiries either; and that was what worried him the most.

All he wanted was to feel something; heat, cold, or even pain, anything as long as it meant breaking out of this endless solitude.

Feeling the fear creep in to him mind he didn't hesitate to reach out and embrace it like it was his only lifeline. Wrong as it was for him to so and as much as it frightened him; surprisingly it was the only thing keeping him from completely breaking down. Even though he was a guardian and even though he had fought against the very man who controlled fear, it told him two very important things. One was that even inside this strange plane of existence he was still capable of feeling emotions, and two was that he was not alone.

If Pitch was their spreading evil into him mind, then in retrospect he was still receiving information. Although the information was that of fear and not really the information most would want, it was exactly what Jack needed and he knew it. It both shocked and disgusted him when he made the realization. Sometimes in life it is fear that a person needs most in order to make it out of the worst possible situations. It was usually fear that got people to do the most amazing things; such getting out of the way of a speeding car or lifting a vehicle with your bear hands.

Gripping onto the fear Jack felt a slight shift within himself that he couldn't quite place. Figuring that it was just his body reacting to his desperation for escape he brushed it off and followed the fear back to its source.

Diving deeper into his fears, farther than he would have like to go, he found out quite a few things about him self. Thing he hated knowing and would never openly admit to, it was a darker part of himself that he wished never existed. The part where he knew that he has done horrible things, and that he was willing to do evil if it resulted in goodness at the end.

As he delved further he felt his body starting to wake to the world around him, his fear steadily growing along with it. When his mind 'reconnected' with that of his body he noticed that something was off immediately. Something was very **very** wrong, he just dint know what…yet.

Sounds of life around him buzzed through the air felling him with confusion for he could not hear the words that he was sure to be floating on the air. Taking a deep breath he began to open his eyes. The process was slow and seemed to take painfully long to accomplish, but once it was accomplished his confusion only grew.

On the other side of what seemed to be a darker version of the attic he was caged in held four dumbstruck guardians and one freaked out little boy. Each one held a gaze that held to many emotions to decipher. Jack knew the cage no longer existed and he had already felt his temperature decreasing by the second. Other than the fact that the room had changed in lighting he didn't see a reason for the looks he was receiving.

After gazing over each person's features for a few moments Jack grew tiresome of this staring contest between them, he never really grew tired of games before so the concept seemed foreign to him. He wanted to cock his head to the side in confusion and scrunch up his face, but for some unexplained reason… he couldn't.

Each had begun to clench open and closed in search for something that should have been there. Tilting his head just enough so his eyes could look at his hands he contemplated what it was they were searching for.

North bulked from the silence first when Jacks gaze turned from them to himself, "Jack…are you alright?"

"Where is my staff?"

A voice that was once so full of joy and fun sounded lifeless and hollow. The change of tone and pitch left everyone baffled, even Jack himself inwardly bulked at the sound.

"I have it right here mate, what's left of it that is." Bunny presented to Jack the two halves but didn't make a move to hand it over.

Jacks eyes lifted with out his head moving and gazed at the rabbit that seemed to shiver under his gaze. Trailing down his eye landed upon what was once his tool and means of power. Jack insides twisted at the sight, it was a pain to put it together the last time, and now he had to do it again. When he tried to reach for it though, he got a shock of his life.

No matter how hard he tried to reach, no matter what he yelled with his mind, his body refused to move forward a grab the two pieces of wood. In fact his body was refusing to listen to anything that he was saying to it. Emotions or any form of expression was showing itself upon his face. His arms and legs refused to move in any direction that they were ordered to go. At one point he tried to speak just to be rebuffed yet again.

"Jack, I know it's not like it was but I'm sure North can help you fix it. It will be good as new." Tooth whispered to the guardian, as she did so she slowly moved closer to him.

"That…." He began slowly stopping Tooth in her tacks "…that is **not** my staff."

Bunny looked from the staff to Jack and then back again. Surely they had not made a mistake in recognizing Jacks staff. Really how many staffs out there had the hooked end these days, and in Burgess by Jacks lake no less.

"What do you mean this isn't your staff, besides it being broken it looks exactly like yours!" Bunny protested.

A smirk formed on the boy's lips but it didn't look right at all, there was no joy behind the smile. "No."

Jack held his hands out with his palms up; closing his eyes he stood there as if waiting. Thinking he was waiting for the staff Bunny proceeded to walk forward when all the black sand in the room started to rush towards Jack.

North bellowed at the young spirit to watch out as the other quickly moved to protect the teen. It was when the sands made there way to the boys open palms did they all stop in their tracks.

Shifting and churning they clung together like dark grey magnets, each piece clinging together until a solid form was produced. Resembling it perfectly there in the hands of the winter spirit was a dark version of his staff.

"Jack how are you doing that?" Tooth squeaked out in concern for their youngest member.

Jacks eyes opened al surveyed the creation their in his hands, balancing the staff in his left hand his right began to trail over its surface. Bouncing it a few times the spirit nodded in approval before letting slid to a more comfortable position in his grip.

"Jack what has happened to you." North spoke out softly. A part of him hoped that the what ever was happening was just some sick joke, that this was a nightmare caused by Pitches exploding sand cage and they were all asleep. His hopes were dashed however when Jacks eyes lifted up to meet his.

North hated looking into those eyes, for even though it was still Jack standing there he knew that it was not the Jack he knew. Bright blue were a dingy grey, they resembled the look that snow had after it was no longer fresh but dirty. As Santa stared into those lifeless eyes he knew that there was something going on behind them.

"I am going to say this once…don't follow me." Even though Jack said it with his voice North could see that behind the boy's eyes he begged the big man not to listen to him.

Then just like that, with out a second glance at anyone else in the room Jack vanished into the darkness of the room. Once he was no longer in there light returned like a switch was flipped on. A sorrowful moan of the wind played trough the air outside the house.

Stevie looked at the remaining Guardians in the room with one question burning in his mind. When no one moved or spoke out he took the opportunity to voice it, "So now what do we do?!"

Sandman floated into the center of the group gaining everyone's attention; for once he didn't need to make elaborate gestures to get their attention. With all eyes on him he gave a half grin and pulled his hands in front of him. In one easy movement he told every one exactly what they were going to do. Pulling his right fist back he smashed it into his left open palm. No one disagreed.

Alright! Till next time... I can't wait to tell you all what happens next woot!


	25. Chapter 25

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey y'all I think I left you all in suspense for long enough. I updated my other story and thought 'man I'm on a roll!' So I here you are.

Also I know this chapter don't have much Pitch or Jack air time, but the next chapters will make up for it.

Disclaimer- mild scrap between two _small _characters. Don't own RoTG. Possible spelling/grammatical errors...hey it's like 4 am so I'm entitled to have a few.

Chapter 25: Dark side

Wind whipped through his hair as he sped across the desert sky, heat form the sun beat down upon his flesh. Voices of his fellow Guardians carried after him upon the winds, each one pleading for him to turn back.

Although he knew that they were concerned and wanted to help him, he just couldn't get himself to stop. His spirit told him to turn around, but his mind and body urged him forward. Like there was some invisible force pushing him to continue on, to not slow down no matter what. He didn't know where he was going, nor did he care, all that mattered was he get out of there and fast.

It wasn't long after Jack left that North had ordered everyone back into the sleigh. Sandy's plan was simple, go beat the truth out of Pitch and if need be, smack some sense into Jack.

Once in the air North positioned his sleigh west and snapped the reigns with renewed vigor. Bunny clenched the edge of his seat, his eyes clenched shut whispering over and over for it to end. Even with all of his rage and determination he just couldn't get use to flying.

Sandy sat in the back of the sleigh using his dream sands to secure Stevie down; unlike everyone else the boy wasn't immortal so falling out could be rather disastrous. Originally  
they were going to leave the boy behind when they left, but after everything that has happened they thought twice about it.

Tooth clung on to the railing closest to North her feathers ruffling in the wind, "North, do you even know where we need to go? I mean we have no idea where Jack went, and Pitch could be anywhere!"

North smirked at the inquisitive fairy, "But of course, we are headed to Burgess where else?"

"O-oi mate, I-I don't mean to sound pessimistic but w-what makes you think we are going to find either one of them there, WILL YOU STOP DOING THE LOOP-DE-LOOPS!" Bunny belted over the wind as North had once again flipped the sleigh around in the air.

"Come now Bunny, everyone likes the loopy-de-loops!" he exclaimed ignoring the original question.

"I am not everyone, besides your scaring the kid!"

"This is AWESOME!" the boy whooped from the backseat, his hands in the air alongside Sandy.

Tooth giggled at the sight behind her, "Looks like that blows your excuse out of the water Bunny."

Pulling out one of his magic snow globes North whispered his destination and chucked it ahead of the sleigh. Shattering into nothingness the globe was immediately replaced with a swirling vortex of various colors, its pull of magic beckoning the travelers to venture inside.

Bunny clenched his eyes tighter awaiting the inevitable push/pull sensation that was sure to over take his scenes at any moment. Tooth stole a glance back to see Sandy and Stevie beaming with excitement. Knowing the sight of the vortex the reindeer spared no time in lunging trough it, pulling along with them their precious cargo.

Jamie found himself wondering through Burgess Park not far from his house, his instincts told him that for what ever reason he needed to be here right now. Much to his surprise his instincts were spot on, for not long after his arrival did the ever familiar vortex of lights appear in the sky.

Like a vacuum in space Santa Clauses sleigh was spat out into the open sky, every one aboard looking active and lively as ever. North peered over the side and gave Jamie a slight wave, who returned the gesture with much fervor.

Jamie knew the Guardian's returning here meant either one of two things: either Jack was with them and they were just setting the children's fear to rest; or Jack was still missing and they needed more clues. As much as he had wished it was number one, he knew that was not the case. If he didn't know better he would have thought Santa's 'gut instinct' was rubbing off on him.

Running as fast as little feet could carry him-hopping over various fallen trees and bushes-Jamie made it to North's landing zone. Before the contraption could even finish landing Bunny had hopped over the side and crash landed to the ground. Laying flat upon the earth a huge sigh of relief escaped deflating him like a giant windbag.

"Now Bunny it was not that bad." North remarked.

Bunny glared at him from where he laid, "Oh yes it was. I swear you are never getting me back on that death trap again!"

"Oh Bunny you say that practically every time after a long flight."

"I mean it this time Tooth, that man is a menace. Mark my words, it will be a cold day in my warren before I'll step foot on that thing again."

Jamie just shook his head at the most ridiculous argument. He had herd Jack tell him numerous times about how fun riding in the sleigh was; he also explained the prank he pulled on Bunny, so he figured that perhaps the rabbit acted this way for good reason. What with him being the only real one ground bound out of the group, well technically North was too, but the point was only one of them actually left the ground on a simi-normal basis.

Tooth spotted Jamie shaking his head and flew quickly to his side; she looked around the forest for the other children but spotted none. "Hello Jamie, where are all of your friends?"

Shrugging his shoulder slightly he responded, "probably at their houses why?"

Bunny perked up his ears at the kids answer and decided to ask the next question, "If that's the case, why are you out here all alone?"

Jamie gave a half smile and turned to the six foot rabbit, "Well I felt it in my gut that you guys would be here."

North beamed at the news, "HA! You see, gut never fails! Jamie you are truly a boy after my own heart."

"Or stomach." Bunny coughed into his hand.

"Aw that so neat, it's like he's a mini North and mini Jack all balled into one!" the Fairy chirped aloud.

"Speaking of Jack where is he?" Jamie asked aloud. All the Guardians tensed for a moment but didn't answer; Jamie knew something was really wrong.

Sandy emerged from the back of the group, his golden sands displaying images of everything that happened with Jack. Even though they didn't want to spoke the boy, Jamie had a right to know. Jamie and Jack shared a very special kind of bond and friendship. It was only fair that he was told of what was going on. It described all the events right down to the time when Jack flew off into the unknown away from them.

"Well I guess the good thing is that you found him, even if it was for only a little while." Jamie chimed in; the boy certainly knew how to stay optimistic. "So what are you guys planning on doing now? Will you look for Pitch or Jack first?"

They had to hand it to the boy; he was super fast at processing information. That was a rather unique talent for a boy at his age; once again the Guardian's were impressed.

Everyone started to mutter different ideas and plans aloud, no one really picking on which on they should choose. Jamie listened half heartedly to their ramblings when movement on the sleigh caught his eye. Leaning sideways Jamie peered around the group to take a closer look. What ever sat in the sleigh moved back upon Jamie's inspection, this only made the boy more curious.

Removing him self from the group he walked over to the sleigh and began to look around. When his head peaked behind the banister of on of its sides he spotted the back of a familiar little boy.

"Stevie?" Jamie questioned, the boy jolted at his name being called but didn't turn. He had faced the wrath of the Guardian's so facing the wrath of Jamie should be a walk in the park right? Wrong…for some unexplained reason, facing this kid was harder than facing any of the others.

Jamie frowned when the boy didn't turn so he tried again, this time with a little more energy. "Stevie, hey I'm talking to you."

Hearing the sudden voice of Jamie behind them the Guardians turned to see what was going on.

"This should be interesting." Bunny muttered to the group, all of them nodded in agreement.

Stevie turned slightly and glanced at Jamie, upon doing so Jamie's eyes narrowed. This intern caused Stevie to spring up and jump out of the back of the sleigh. At first the Guardian were concerned that the boy would hurt him self from the fall, but their worries changed to a different subject when they noticed Jamie race around to cut off Stevie's only exit.

"Where are you going?" Jamie inquired rather angrily.

"Nowhere."

"Really, it didn't look like nowhere to me. Mind telling me why you were going nowhere?"

Stevie glared back at the boy in front of him, "Why do you care where I go?"

"Why shouldn't I care?!"

"What do you mean why?"

"I am asking you that!"

"I don't know!"

"Exactly you don't know! You really are stupid!"

"Hey, I know I messed up alright you don't have to call me names!"

"Your right you did mess up, and I'll call you stupid because that's what you are Stupid!"

Stevie found him self going from sad and guilty with fear of facing Jamie, to enraged and angry at him in the span of five seconds.

"What is your problem?!"

"You, you're my problem!"

Stevie shoved passed Jamie in a huff, what no one knew about Jamie however was that there were three things you should never ever do around him. One: don't ever hurt or insult his family. Two: never hurt or insult his friends. Three: don't ever touch him when he is defending one or two. Like a gunshot went off Jamie found himself lunging after Stevie.

Everyone freaked at the sudden spontaneous outburst form what they deemed as the nicest child they've meet in this century. Stevie responded in kind to the random attack by attacking back. Each boy grappled and tugged at each other like two wild dogs fighting for the upper hand.

"Guys do something!" Tooth chirped in alarm as the boys fell to the ground in the struggle. Before they could act the two kids started yelling at each other again.

"You are so stupid! You did all of this just so you could get a friend?!"

"Shut up Jamie, like I expect you to understand anything!"

"Of course I don't understand, you never let me even try!"

"Yeah right! Your only saying that because of what I did to Jack!"

"This has nothing to do with Jack!"

"Oh yeah then why are you so mad at me?!"

"Because you left without saying **_goodbye_****, **I thought we were **_friends_**!"

Stevie's struggling halted as he looked confused at the other boy, "What?"

"You heard me, I thought we were friends! We played games, jokes, and shared such fun times with each other. I even told you secrets I never told anyone other human. Was I the only one who thought we were friends? I was so worried when you left that I asked anyone and everyone for information about where you were!"

"That can't be true…"

"Why, because you say so? Dude, if I knew you needed me to come out and tell you I was your friend everyday I would have! I would have told you that every single day if I had to, but oh no you just had to be all stupid and jump to the first conclusion!"

Stevie shook his head and in disbelief, his eyes gazing down at the ground, a small smile playing on his lips, "Stupid huh?"

Jamie smiled too, even though he was exhausted he obviously got through, "Yeah…Stupid."

"So you aren't mad at me over Jack?"

"Well I'm upset that you went to Pitch of all people rather than just asking Jack; but I know Jack doesn't blame you so why should I?"

Stevie really was getting surprise after surprise recently, "So I have just one more question?"

"Shoot?"

"Why did you just freaking attack me?"

Jamie gave a sheepish smile and looked away, "Well uh that's what friends do…sorta. I was trying to get through to you, I don't like it when anyone hurts those I care about, even when its themselves. When you just pushed me away I kinda just snapped, sorry."

"Jamie you really are something" Stevie huffed as he stood up.

Brushing himself off Jamie smile triumphantly, "I know."

From the sidelines the Guardians just stood dumfounded.

"What just happened?" Tooth asked nervously to the others.

"Shelia, that what we fellas call bonding."

"Aww, dose that mean all these squabbles between you and Jack are really just bonding moments?" she asked excitedly.

"That is not the same thing, besides Jack deserves every kick and egg bomb I throw at 'em!"

Tooth rolled her eyes at the obvious lie; Bunny really was the big brother of their family after all, even if he didn't like to admit it openly.

"Good, now no more fighting or both of you will be on naughty list this year!" North bellowed at the two.

Both boys exchanged a glance of shock before acting like nothing ever happened.

"Now, that we have all of this out of the way. It's high time we formulated a plan, I say we strike at Pitch first."

"That's great Bunny, but where is his lair? The only time I remember ever finding it was years ago. If what Jack told me it moved from there to somewhere around here, well at least that was until we last defeated him."

"Hold on let me think…think think think think Ah-HA! Idea, let us capture nightmare and make it lead us back to lair!"

"Exactly how do you plan on doing that mate? Last time I checked getting one of those buggers to cooperate was neigh impossible."

"Well I got an Idea." The small voice of Jamie echoed over the group.

Tooth flew forward being the first to asked the question, "Oh, and what's that sweety?"

"First we get a dream catcher…"

Dundun dun! What does Jamie have up his sleeve now? Stay tuned! Ill be updating more often. Also if you want a good laugh and new adventure take a look at my newest RoTG story.

-Skye out


	26. Chapter 26

``````````````````````````````````Author's Notes``````````````````````````````````

So I got a new Job! I was typing away at work when a tooth fairy showed up freaking out! She was going off on me about leaving such a cliff hanger for so long. I was like OMG I did! So with rabbit like speed I raced back to the story. (not during work of course)

Here you are my friends. The next chapter, I hope you all enjoy. Super sorry!

Chapter 26: Dream Catchers

Jamie had explained his plan to the guardians, and to be honest they were impressed. This boy had thought about everything needed to trap nightmares, he had this practically down to a science. If they didn't know any better they could have sworn that he had been planning something like this for the longest time.

"Tell me Jamie, how on earth did you come up with such a marvelous plan? Something like this couldn't have been thought up in just one afternoon." Bunny inquired.

"Well, after we defeated Pitch that last time I was thinking of how unprepared we were. I started thinking of what we could have done differently, that way if Pitch ever did return we could be prepared. To be perfectly honest I didn't think I would ever have to use it." Jamie answered honestly.

"Wow I certainly am impressed." Tooth chirped excitedly. Jamie rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Aww. It's not that impressive, anybody could have thought of it. I'm sure even Stevie could come up with something better, right? " Jamie peeked over to Stevie hopping for some back up.

"Are you kidding?! I could never have thought of something like that!" Stevie's eyes bulged from his head as he stared at his friend.

"Haha! No more talking, now we get down with the making of plan. Bunny you and Sandy will take boys; go back to town and get everything ready. Tooth and I will go back to workshop and get the items Jamie mentioned."

"Right, just don't go taking your time. Night time is already drawing near and we still have no idea where frostbite is."

North patted Bunny on the cheek and chuckled slightly. "No worries my friend. All will work out."

Not waiting around for Bunny could say anything else, North ran off to his sleigh with Tooth in tow.

Bunny and Sandy looked at each other and then to the kids before them. Jamie, who got over his earlier embarrassment, was now staring at the two guardians with determination. Stevie held his head high for once, it was obvious he was ready to start making amends.

"Alright ya ankle biters lets get going."

There was something about being in the comfortable embrace of his life long friend and companion that made Jack just relax. Upon feeling him relax the winds whisked him away, and for once he could care less.

Jacks bond with the winds are something of mystery, for ever since Jack first floated up into the air, their unspoken friendship was born. It was a bond unlike any other he has, even with that of the Guardians.

Jack was always able to be himself with the wind. Sure he was able to be him self sometimes around the Guardians, but it just wasn't the same. It was an amazing feeling to know that no matter what he did-be it good or bad-the wind would stand by him. They didn't judge him nor did they place expectations, rules or stipulations in which he had to abide by. So when the winds ever decided something for him, he had full faith in them.

Drifting down from the sky Jack's mind began to work in overdrive. Since leaving the desert his conscious awareness was all but void thanks to the wind. So finding himself in the Rocky Mountains came as quite a shock.

Not that he was really complaining, the cooler air and patches of un-melted snow gave him a sense of normality. Places that still held snow like this even in the beginning months of summer always brought a smile to his face. Perhaps it was because of this that the winds choose a place such as this to land him. They could have taken him to Alaska or Antarctica, but it chose to bring him here.

As he neared the trees a mile wide radius of frost struck out from his body. Nothing was spared from his icy touch, and what was worse was he wasn't even trying. Normally he would accidentally cause small amounts of frost due to emotional out burst, but for this he would have had to concentrate. At least he thought he did, but now he wasn't so sure.

Inches from the ground he hovered momentarily, a sensation of uncertainty plaguing his mind. When the moment was gone his feet made contact with the ground resulting in a marvelous display of flash freezing a mile radius around him.

Green and lush trees that let there leaves bask in the sun were now incased in a thick layer of ice. Streams that flowed freely throughout the trails found themselves frozen beneath a barrier.

Every sound of life stilled into a deathly silence at his presence, it was like his very touch upon the earth's surface petrified the mountainside. A shiver ran up Jacks back at the sudden change around him, it was hauntingly quite but breathe taken and beautiful.

Slowly his feet picked up and propelled him forward, slowly his head swiveled from side to side taking in the view around him.

"What is going on with me?" he whispered aloud, the ice cracking and reforming every time he took a step.

Upon reaching a old tree did he notice something bizarre about the ice around him. None of the ice held the normal luster and design that it normally did. There were no intricate design or pattern interlacing the ice, it was just pure solid white and soulless.

Voices drifted up from down the mountain breaking Jack from his thoughts. Curious as to who was there and completely forgetting that he wanted to be alone, Jack pushed off the ground drifting down to their location.

After a short hop skip and a jump, Jack found himself at the infamous incline, a slope that went straight up the mountain without all of the zigzagging that the trails offered. Glancing up and down it didn't take long for him to spot where the voices were coming from. Two teenage boys and one teenage girl were walking up, each of them carring a water bottle and laughing about who knows what.

Small waves of chilled air drifted down to them, but despite the cold they continued on. Rather than slowing down, they seemed to actually speed up. Jack on the other hand could have sworn that they were moving in slow motion.

He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but as they drew near all he could hear was the beating of his own heart. His grip tightened around the dark sand staffed and his breathing all but stopped.

When the three strangers walked passed him without so much as blinking in his direction Jack felt like he was slapped in the face. Anger flooded his mind and filled his heart, magic built up within his body begging be release…and that is just what he did.

Letting the staff in his hand slip down towards the steps his magic rushed through it with incredible speed. Black ice raced unseen across every step in front of the unsuspecting teens.

Yet even as he seen them fall to the ground on after the other, he still was not appeased. Raising the staff high above his head he summoned forth large dark clouds, each on capable of producing massive storms on their own. Once in place Jack slammed his staff upon the ground releasing even more of his winter magic.

What moisture was in the air quickly became ice, and whipped around on the agitated winds. Design free frost lashed out to anything and everything it could. Practically doubling over Jack yelled out in frustration.

Why was he not satisfied with just this, better yet why was he angry in the first place? People ignoring his presence never angered him like this before, so why now? Why was it that three random teens on a mountain side brought forth so much raw anger?

When he was ignored he would have pranked them or being to them a little unbound joy, but not this time. This time all he wanted to do was just lash out, and he didn't care what the results would be.

Raising off the ground once again Jack inhaled and focused on his inner magic; with glowing blue eyes he focused in on the three beings below him.

Noticing what he was about to do the winds flung him higher into the air, their concern for their little winter spirit's well being out weighed their fear of his opinion of them.

Jack growled in frustration as he found the distance between himself and the people below dwindle. Yet, the magic within had to be released once it reached this point. So with out a second thought he shot his arms into the sky and released it.

Like a wolf searching for prey his magic lashed out; rather than falling on to the group below it made its way across the mountain to the Cog Railcars in the distance.

Ice snaked its way around the brake lines of the cars, black ice slicker than snot coated each rail line causing the car wheels to slip dangerously. People within the cars began to panic as the car no longer rolled forward but instead started to roll backwards.

Jack seen what was happening, and again was shocked about how little he cared. Accidents happen he shrugged as his head turned from the scenes below. Part of him was appalled about the way he felt, but another part of him was almost…relieved. It was like there were two sides of him battling it out within him and anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity was just collateral damage.

Small yelps of concern soon made the transition into bellows of horror as the cars began to travel back down the mountain. Throwing his hands up to his head he pressed down hard on his ears in attempt to drown out the sound. Guilt pulled at his heart, but this strange new emotion was preventing him from doing anything more than just float there.

His eyes kept glancing below despite his best efforts to ignore them. Just when he was about to give in to his cold hearted whim the small fragile voice of a child broke through his wall of hate.

"J-Jack?!" a little girls voice called from one of the cars.

Looking down into the cars he was able to spot a little girl no older than five looking up at him. Her small brown eyes held so much pleading and fear that Jack found him self floating to her side subconsciously. Skeptical at first he thought her shout out was a fluke, but when say the child stare him straight in the eyes he knew she could see him.

"Jack Frost! What's going on, are you here to help us?" the girl pleaded to the spirit, a bit of hope and fear lacing her words.

"Misty stay seated that's dangerous!" the little girl's father ordered from her side.

"But Daddy, Jack Frost has come to help us!" she cried. "Aren't you Mr. Frost?" she finished turning to the winter spirit.

Seeing that the girl not only believed in him, but was pleading him for help was almost to much to bare. It was his fault that she was in this situation in the first place. He was supposed to be a Guardian; and as one he was supposed to protect children not place them in harms way.

Lunging behind the cars Jack swung the staff across his chest willing the black ice to vanish. Once gone he continued forth to the ice around the breaks hoping that they would register and activate. Unfortunately they didn't, fearing that something must have been damaged Jack flew further down the track and started to craft a small ice rail car upon the tracks.

This rail car was much smaller in size than that of the metal car that hurtled towards him, but this ice car was extremely tough. Pushing it forward to give it some momentum he waited patiently for the out of control locomotive to make contact.

Like expected the metal cars collided with his ice car and immediate started to push it down the mountain. Jack took this moment to force his car to slow down and break. At first it looked like nothing was going to happen, but after a long agonizing moment the cars all slowed down.

It took sometime and a lot of effort but Jack was able to safely bring the cars back to the station at the bottom of the Peak. People climbed out of the cars shaking and trying desperately trying to figure out what went wrong.

Little Misty ran over to Jack who was off to the side looking on the scene with little to no interest. Upon seeing the girl though, his eyes lit up and relief washed over his face.

"Hey there, are you alright?" he asked kneeling down to the little girl.

Her little head nodded up and down vigorously, her excitement at seeing the spirit being barely contained. "Thank you so much Jack Frost!"

"No problem kiddo." Jack reached his hand out to tussle her hair but froze in mid stretch. Something in his mind screamed for him not to touch her, he didn't know why but he had to listen to it. Pulling back his hand Jack stood up and turned from the girl thoroughly confusing the little girl.

"Mr. Frost is you okay?" she whispered to the teen spirit.

"Y-yeah…I just…there's some where I got to be right now." Taking a few steps Jack hopped into the air, but not before a small hand gripped the edge of his hoodie.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye?" she asked with a pouty face.

"Uh…Goodbye?" he said sort of uncertainly.

Beaming up at him the little girl lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the teen. Shocked Jack looked down at the girl as she nuzzled her head against his hoodie, again he found his hand hovering over her head. Despite the voice that cried somewhere deep inside him to not proceed. Jack placed his hand onto the child head.

An action he would soon regret.

Alright y'all, that is all for now. I cant' believe I forgot about this. This chapter is meant to give y'all a glimpse into Jacks turmoil. This cliff hanger won't last though. I'm typing the next one right after I post this one. I'm on such a roll. Lol

Any who thanks to all of you who are still reading, you make writing all that more fun.


	27. Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Sneaks into fan fiction…looks around to check if coast is clear…drops off new chapter…Runs back to desk to write more*

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: we all know it at this point. I don't own RoTG.

Chapter 27: Monty Bait

Bunny tapped his paw upon the floor rapidly; he wasn't trying to summon a tunnel he was just agitated. There he was sitting in Monty's bedroom listening to the two tikes he brought with him explain their plan for nearly an hour. Now Monty was a very bright kid but for some reason he just wasn't grasping what it was his friends wanted him to do.

"You want me to do what?" the blond haired boy asked skittishly.

"Basically we want you to be the bait." Stevie said flatly.

"Why me?! Can't one of you two do this?"

Jamie sighed and looked at his friend with pity, "Unfortunately no, Pitch and his Nightmares are well aware that I am not afraid of them. Therefore, coming after me would look too much like a trap."

"Yeah, and I can't do it because Pitch already knows I'm with the Guardians right now. If I tried something like this he would be tipped off immediately, that's why you have to do."

"I see why you guys can't but why does it have to be me, can't you get cupcake, Pippa or the twins to do it? I'm sure they would love to help you out."

"Nope, it has to be you. Cupcake has been on a pseudo war path against all Nightmares since that night a few months ago; and the twins are currently doing something else for us. As for Pippa she's out sick, so that leave you."

Monty sighed in defeat, there was no way they were going to let him out of this. "Fine, I'll do it. So run this plan by me again."

Bunny turned to the wall and started banging his head; this was going to take all night at the rate they were going. "Would yah hurry it up yah gumbies, we don't have all night."

"Sorry Bunny" Jamie whispered before running over his plan yet again to the timed boy.

"We are going to get Sandy to start spreading dream sand all around town. He is going to make a big spectacle about it to draw as much attention to him self as possible. We are going to have Claude and Caleb boasting about Sandy in hopes to agitate some of the Nightmares to come out of hiding. According to Sandy they are hidden through out the shadows in town. If all goes well and one of the horses takes an interest we are going to lure here to your place."

"And why here exactly?" Monty asked still fuzzy on that one.

When Jamie took a breath Stevie took up the explanation, "Everyone knows you are afraid of the boggie-man and his fear lings."

"Hey! That's not fair you know I have a weak constitution!" the boy huffed in embarrassment.

"What Stevie means is that because the nightmares already know this they will be less likely to suspect you of fowl play." Monty seemed to calm when Jamie changed his friends wording around.

"Anyway, once Sandy gets here he is going to make an elaborate gesture of insuring you have good dreams; then he will fly away. Once Sandy leaves, the horse will assuredly take the chance to mess with you again. Sorry about that by the way."

"I'm not really liking this plane so far." The blond mumbled softly.

"Don't worry Monty we are going to be here hiding the whole time." Stevie tried to assure the smaller boy.

"Yeah, and what are you going to do once the beast attacks me?"

"Were going to catch it of course." Stevie giggles while throwing his arms out wide for added emphasis.

"Alright, this is where you lose me. How exactly are you two planning on catching it? It's not like either one of you can touch it, other wise it would just go into dream sand again. Unless you have some kind of special rope or something."

Jamie and Stevie exchanged a glance before returning their gaze to Monty, "What?" he chirped.

"Well you're sort of right." Stevie shrugged

"We actually have something of a net we are going to use." Jamie added.

"How is a net going to capture sand? Don't nets have holes in them?"

"Yah they do, but this kind of 'net' was made for this sort of thing. We are going to use a dream catcher, have you ever heard of this before?" Jamie replied.

When Monty looked confused Jamie decided that he could spare a quick moment to explain this to his friend. Perhaps then he may be a little more willing to help them out, and less likely to totally freak and blow the whole operation.

"Dream catcher is a small round hoop with string weaved within in it, the string crates a net like pattern and at the bottom there are feathers. The dream catcher is meant to trap bad or negative dreams and allow the good or positive dreams to pass trough."

"Wow, where did you learn that and why haven't I heard of such a thing?" Monty asked in disbelief.

"When Pitch was defeated I did some research on how to defeat them. Once my mom found out that I was looking up ways to fight off bad dreams she told my dad. When he came home from his business trip he brought back a dream catcher. He told me that Native Americans originally did this and that once the negative dreams were trapped they remained there until hit by the first rays of sun, this would vanquish your bad dreams."

"That is amazing, but if you wanted to destroy the Nightmare what good is putting it in the dream catcher when you could just change it back?"

"We don't want to destroy it, we want to capture it. Once we have the Nightmare trapped in this web, we are going to use it to locate Pitch." Jamie boasted with confidence.

"So, are you going to give me the dream catcher now or later?"

"Uh, that's just the thing. We don't know if Pitch or his Nightmares know about the dream catchers and their ability. With as long as they have been around I wouldn't doubt it, and we don't want them to have any inclination that it's a trap." Stevie explained.

Monty just nodded his head and waited for his friend to continue.

"So yeah, Bunny is going to hide in the room here with you and wait for the Nightmare to act. Once it's taken the bait…no offense…then he will strike."

"What if it sees Bunny coming and tries to flee?"

"Oh, it won't out run me mate you can count on that." Bunny chimed in at this remark. "But if the bugger does get away North and Tooth will be waiting for it."

"Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy are here to?" Monty asked looking around excitedly. Santa Clause was by far Monty's favorite Guardian and was ecstatic at the prospect of being in the same vicinity as him. Bunny found it a little irritating, on top of many other things.

"They aren't here yet, they went to go get all the Dream Catcher we would need from the North Pole." Stevie explained.

"All, how many do you need?"

"Well, Bunny is going to have one on him but if it manages to get away…"

"Which it won't" Bunny piped in.

Jamie rolled his eyes and finished his statement, " IF they get away then North, Tooth, Stevie and I will have one as well. Sort of like a back up plan sort of speak."

"Right just like grandpa says, 'it's always best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best rather than prepare for the best and get the worst'." Said Stevie.

Jamie turned to the Stevie with a grin, "Oh I like that, how about this one? 'It's always better to have something and not need it, then need it and not have it.'"

Stevie did a tiny applaud, "Wonderful absolutely wonderful, I got another one 'its better..."

"As much as I'd love to stick around exchanging quotes, we should finish getting ready for the plan. I'm not about to listen to North turn this into another 'Christmas is better than Easter' lecture because we are the last ones done."

Stevie and Jamie glanced at Monty; the young boy was staring out the window with a blank stare on his face.

"So Monty, will you do this?"

Monty looked at Stevie and then to Jamie, both boys held a look of desperation on their face. They didn't want to force him to do it if he really didn't want to, all they could do was hope that he would agree.

Monty really didn't want to do this even with all of this positive reinforcement; Monty was terrified of the Boggie-man and obviously everyone knew it. Feeling the pressure he looked away again and was about to decline when Jamie said something that caught him off guard, "Monty, do it for Jack."

"What?"

"Jack saved all of us when we needed help; now he really needs our help. So please Monty, do it for Jack?"

Monty had to hand it to Jamie; he always seemed to know what to say. "A-all right, I'll try."

Once the boy had agreed Bunny immediately opened a hole and jumped inside, "Where's the Easter Rabbit going?" Monty asked confused once again.

"He went to meet up with the others, don't worry he should be back any minute. Then we can get started with operation: Round-up."

"Operation 'Round-up', really?" Stevie quipped.

"What I thought is was great!" Jamie pouted in defense, a small smile playing across his lips.

Stevie just shook his head; Jamie was beginning to sound like Jack.

And end scene!

We know he plan but will it work? If everything goes as plan what will the Guardians do when they reach Pitch? What does Pitch have up his sleeve? Better question, what's happening with Jack back in Colorado?

Compare how much you know with the truth in the next Chapter of Cageing Frost. (yes I know its spelled wrong)

Reviews welcome


	28. Chapter 28

```````````````````````````````````````````Author's Notes```````````````````````````````

Wow y'all, and here I thought that once summer was here there would be more time to type these chapters…that however doesn't seem to be the case. First I got to see my uncle I haven't seen in 10 years (which was awesome!) Then my parent have gotten into the project mood so we just built a chicken coop; let's just say I feel like I'm torturing my cat. On top of that there are all these art projects and chapters to write, so if I am running a bit slow on updating that at least you know why. I am not blowing this off; every day I say "I am posting a chapter today!" which then end with me being called away to do something else

I want to thank all of you who have continued to follow and support this story thus far. I know my updates are getting further and further apart, but that's just something I have no control over.

Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Enough jabber jawing now that that is over with it's on with the show!

Chapter: 28 Long Nights

Shadow danced across the streets, their fingers of darkness trailing the asphalt with the curiosity of a newborn. Soft nickering of the wayward nightmares echoed off the alley ways and into the ears of sleeping children. So little effort was needed to disturb the sleep of one so young, especially now after the incident some time ago.

Gradually inching its way forward a solitary nightmare locked its eerie yellow eye upon a tiny house down the block, dreams of happiness rang loudly in its well-tuned ears. While most found it a pleasant tune, the beast found it repulsive. Like nails on a chalkboard these dreams of joy constantly graded upon the stallions nerves. His master would be more than pleased with his destruction of yet another light filled dream.

Trotting forward the nightmare closed the gap between him and the house; each street lamp flickered and moaned as it passed beneath them. With eagerness in its step the stallion cantered faster, with its quickened step the horse leaped into the air. Hooves of endless black griped the air currents and propelled its massive body upwards, once there it was only seconds before the creature made it to the home of its victim.

With little to no effort the beast fazed through the large glass window. Scanning the room it took no time at all to spot the defenseless child resting upon its bed. Golden images of a large teddy bear adorned with a sword and bandanna fighting off a monster drifted above a small girl.

Turning a fake monster real was all but a tiny touch away. Inching forward the nightmare stretched its snout ever closer.

"Look it's the Sandman!" a young boys pierced the silence.

Startled the horse reared back and glanced around the room nervously; being turned into some mushy golden thorough breed was something it really didn't want.

"You're right it is him! Sandy down here!" another boy spoke from outside the house.

Taking a glance back at the sleeping child the horse began to weigh its options. On one hand it could go after this child here and accomplish its original goal, on the other he could find out what the Guardian of Dreams was doing and report it back to his master.

Changing out one child's happy dreams and replacing it with a nightmare did increase his master's power. Although, given Intel on the whereabouts and doings of the Guardians did rate high in his kings list of priorities. Snorting in frustration the stallion abandoned its task and proceeds towards the window.

In the streets roamed two little boys who jumped and bounced excitedly with energy. Each child waved and pointed into the sky as if trying to get the whole world to see what they did. Raising his head the horse saw the little golden man playing with his sand.

Snorting loudly the nightmare shook its head roughly side to side. Determination flowed across its features when a plan arose within its mind. He would follow the sandman and crush every new dream he sent out to the city. Once the sun would begin to rise he would then and only then return to report all of hid findings to the Boogie-man.

Drifting closer to the children Sandy waved softly and gave them a small smile. He had noticed the Nightmares approach and was all to ready to get this plan into motion. Claud and Celb had obviously noticed the nightmares presence as well, given that they were glancing over the shoulder every few moments.

Bunny had left but a few moments ago when he received word from Tooth that they had returned. It would seem that everything has begun to fall into place; all that was left was to lure a Nightmare into their trap.

Weary at first Sandy thought of all of the things that could go wrong. Being as he was the Guardian of Dreams, the mere mention of using a child and his dreams as bait made him nauseous. This went against all of his personal codes, but he knew that this was their last resort.

Turning around so his back now faced the children he took in a deep breath. With one last quick glance at the kids he began to float off to the rendezvous point.

Just like they had anticipated the nightmare was in hot pursuit, slinking in and out of the shadows like snake hunting a mouse. Narrowing his eyes Sandy shot off even faster towards the house. Doing this without dropping any dream sand was risky in revealing their plans to the beast. Yet, he was willing to take that risk. Something inside him told him that by dropping sands when a Nightmare was so close by would be a keen to neglecting his duties. There was also the possibility that the horse would take to attacking the children rather than following him. If it did this then he knew that there would be no other option but to destroy it. Therefore, rather than taking that risk he choose a route slightly different than intended.

After a good six minutes of flying later Sandy had landed on the window seal of little Monty. Much to his surprise the nightmare had followed him the entire time without a moment of hesitation. Either it was completely oblivious of what it was happening, or it just simply didn't care.

Drifting in the window Sandy made a spectacle out of dusting the small form of Monty with his sand. Each little grain glowed a little brighter than the next as they came in range of the boy. His stiff form from anticipation relaxed into the warm embrace of the glow. What ever tension was in the air all but vanished as small imaged of the boy playing with small elves danced around his head.

Sandy smiled fondly at the image before an eerie presence brought him back to reality. Glaring at the window which he knew hid the evil black sands, Sandy made a quick survey of the room. Though he couldn't see them he felt the watchful eyes of his fellow guardians and friends. With a deep breath and a silent acknowledgment Sandy floated out the window past the Nightmare and up to the clouds.

Once the Nightmare was assured that the Dream Guardian was out of sight he took this opportunity to strike. Rushing forward the Nightmare entered the room and pawed the ground. Spotting the golden elf images sent his urge to contaminate the dream into overdrive.

Rearing back the horse dove for the dream sand.

"NOW!" a voice rang out.

With all of his energy propelling him forward towards the dream he could do nothing to stop as the Easter Bunny dove towards him with a flat round net. Whinnying in panic the horse kicked out his legs but it was too late. Upon contact with the abnormally large dream catcher his body began to disincarnate into the net.

Becoming sand once again the stallions body swirled around the strings; a shimmer of darkness rolled across its surface. It was obvious that the beast within the stands was aggravated. No matter what it did to escape it was clear that it wasn't going anywhere.

Jamie fell out from behind on side of the bedroom curtain wide eyed and in shock, "I-it worked? It actually worked!"

Stevie too was staring in amazement as he stumbled from out of the other curtain. "Dude, I had my doubts but that was amazing!"

Bunny stood tall as he held the net up for others to see, a cocky smirk plastered upon his face. "See told you that pony wouldn't get away from me."

"What is to be so happy about? You did nothing but jump." North huffed as his emerged from the nearby closet.

"Oi, what are you so angry about. Besides weren't you supposed to be outside the window in case it escaped?"

"Oh, Toothy has it covered."

"Did someone call me?" the Fairy inquired peeking her head around the corner to gaze inside the room.

"Wha- she was only guarding one window, you were supposed to guard the other one!"

"Hey we had it covered!" Jamie and Stevie interjected simultaneously, watch boy holding an even smaller Dream Catcher in their hands.

"That's not the point! North, what if the kids touched the bugger and it turned into golden sands? We'd have to start all over!"

"Come on Bunny, everything turned out alright. Besides, that just shows how much confidence North had in you succeeding."

"That or he wanted to prove how much better he is then me."

North snickered, "It is all right Tooth, Bunny is just jealous. Now time to get back to the task at hand."

"Jealous!? Of what?" the Pooka bellowed as his ears perked up at the accusation.

North's face had a cocky smile of his own, resting on hand on his hip his other had pointed to the sleeping figure behind him. "It would seem Christmas has beat Easter yet again."

Bunnymund looked over to the sleeping boy and the dream above his head. Finally realizing what the image was showing he rolled his eyes, "So he dreams about elves, doesn't mean he thinks Christmas is better. In fact, I think he prefers your elves to you." The rabbit taunted the bigger man.

North's smile faded and his eyes widened at the observation Bunny made. Before he could argue further Sandy floated back into the room, worry clearly evident on his face.

"Do not worry my friend, No nightmares to be had here."

Upon hearing the words Sandy visibly melted with relief causing the others to snicker. Ignoring the others and reaching forward Sandy gestured for Bunny to hand him the Dream Catcher. Bunny handed it over and the room went silent, no one was sure of what to do next.

"I think we should leave and let Monty sleep, I would hate to wake him from such a good dream." Tooth whispered to the boys in the room.

Silently nodding, everyone made there way out of the room. Stevie stole a glance back at Monty and silently thanked him. Upon seeing the small golden sand elf dancing Stevie chuckled softly.

"What's so funny?" Jamie asked his friend in confusion.

"I just realized Bunny was right, Santa really did try to turn this into a Christmas is better than Easter situation."

Jamie and Stevie looked each other in the eye and started cracking up earning a questioning glance from the Guardians. Neither on of them was going to say anything for fear of another bickering match.

Quick notes:::

Okay I know I haven't got back to Jack yet, and this chapter was sort of short but ill remedy that with the nest chapter.

Feel free to review, I hope you all enjoyed this quick update.

See you in the next chapter!

~skye out


	29. Chapter 29

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm back!...a-anyway, for those who didn't know this story took so long to update because I was working on another one. I figured it was time this one received some TLC; that is why I bring to you Chapter 29! So put down you're weapons, recall your attack fairies and halt the yetis.

I also made sure this one was a lot longer than my other chapters as a sort of apology to all of you. I hope you all are hanging in there!

Warning: *Some shocking possibilities, doubts, and is that…fear I smell? Dark Jack? So many questions, so time for some answers!

Disclaimer: you know the drill, I no own ROTG. But OC Stevie is mine. (his family is too, but yeah we don't see them like…ever but still)

Chapter 29: What…

'Do I really want to release this thing? I mean, I know it's not going to get far from us but still. I would rather it stay inside this net of sinew and fry with dawns first light.'

With a quick sigh Sandy banished the thoughts that were plaguing his mind. In all honesty he had refused to hand the Dream Catcher over to the others because he simply didn't like the idea of this creature being let loose. Sure it was safe, but it just rubbed him the wrong way.

"Come now Sandy, we have little time. Hand over Catcher so we can find Pitch." North spoke, his hand opening and closing in a 'give me' gesture. Sandy rolled his eyes before allowing them to settle back on the item within his hands.

Tooth propped her hand upon her waist and glided over to oblivious Sandman. Circling him a few-and rather annoying-times Tooth huffed loudly before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sandy, I know you don't like the Nightmare, but we really do need to let it out. It's the only hope we have to finding Jack."

Sandy glanced up at the Fairy giving her and obvious 'no duh' look, Tooth flashed him an embarrassed smile before fluttering off. Bunny; deciding to take the point one step further, walked up right behind the man and very blatantly started tapping his big furry paw.

With eyes half lidded and mouth contorted into a half-frown, Sandy shifted the device to his left hand, holding it out for the rabbit to take.

Bunny took no time in swiping the circle from his friends hand, "Finally, if I would of known it would have caused you such a problem I would never of handed it over."

Sandy blew small puffs of sand from him in a huff, before he could say anything Tooth intervened, "Bunny! That's not very nice, Sandy was just taking a bit longer than the rest of us to prepare."

Sandy shook his head quickly loosening and flinging small sleep pebbles everywhere, "Hey watch it mate, you could put someone to sleep by doing that!"

"What Bunny, afraid of a little **_cat_** nap?" North jabbed at his furry companion.

"Oh ha-ha, if you must know I am not overly found of being forced to sleep when there are more important things to do."

Sandy smirked as the memory of Bunny jumping around Jamie's room to escape Abby popped into his head. "Oi, what's that look for?" Bunny questions at his grinning-floating- friend.

'Who me?' Sandy feigned innocence under the gaze of the Pooka.

"Uh…Guys I get you know what you're doing here a lot better than we do…"

"But don't you think we should really be going now?"

All the Guardians turned to Stevie and Jamie who had just spoken. Stevie had his arms crossed in an impatient manner, while Jamie just fidgeted in his spot.

"Boys are right, Bunny break that thing and set it loose. Everyone be ready to follow it once it's out."

With North's order in the air Stevie, Jamie, and himself hopped into the sleigh. Tooth and Sandy took to the air for a better view as Bunny prepared himself for whatever was about to happen. With one last glance at the others he raised his arm up then brought it down hard.

Upon impact the Dream Catcher disintegrated into nothingness, all that was left was silence. Tension built in the air around them all as they await for something to happen.

"Is that all? I was kind of expecting someth-"before Stevie could finish, a high pitch shrill came from the darkness. Throwing his hands up to protect his ears Stevie was forced to squint do to the sheer volume of the echo. Peering through his blurry vision his eyes glanced over the rising form of the Nightmare.

Looking to the Guardians he seen that they too had their hands and eyes preoccupied with keeping out the horrible sound. Bunny, who was closest to the horse seemed to be in the most pain of them all, not to mention his heightened scenes of hearing must have been really painful to endure. Tooth fluttered around sporadically, it was obvious she was having difficulty staying in the air at this point. The Sandy didn't seem to be fairing any better, even with his earmuffs made out of sand. North and Jamie were both leaning against the rail on either side of him trying to keep themselves from toppling over. Heck, even the reindeer were beginning to hunker down from the pain.

Realizing that nobody was noticing the materializing stallion he searched for his voice and forced it out, praying that someone was going to be able to hear him. "E-everyone…l-look!"

Much to his surprise, Bunny twitch and forced himself to glance around. It took a fraction of a second for his mind to process the cause of all of their strife and lash out accordingly. Pulling out his boomerang he flung at the sands, disrupting the sands progress.

Just like that all of the noise and pain vanished leaving behind only the aftereffects of its appearance. Bunny shook his head back and forth to rid himself of the ringing that persisted in his ears. Stevie panicked at first when he seen the Pookas boomerang aim straight for its owners head, that was until said owner reached out without looking and caught it.

"That never gets old." The boy mumbled to himself in amazement.

"W-what was that?" Tooth stuttered voicing all of their thoughts.

Sandy smacked his head a couple more times before answering, it went a little something like this:

'Nightmares give off a shrill when reforming as a sort of defense mechanism. It's produced by the sound of wind rushing trough and around the small sand particles in the air. That way whatever was attacking them will be subdued long enough for them to gain their bearings and escape. It's rather effective but has one flaw, when the air and sands are disrupted the wave length becomes distorted, thus rendering the sound inaudible. Trying to reproduce the sound after being disturbed is difficult, by then their enemy already knows of it and they focus all of their energy on escaping.'

However what mostly everyone there was able to read through the complex sand images was this:

'Nightmare caused it…it's week…it wants to escape.'

Sandy looked so serious and intent on explaining what he knew to the others that Stevie and Jamie felt bad when they couldn't quite understand him, and that the Guardians only vaguely understood what he had said.

"Leave it to Sandy to know, thank you my friend! Now that it wants to escape we must help it out." Santa pronounce from the sleigh.

Sandy dropped his head in a sort of defeat causing the boys to giggle, "Looks like Jack is rubbing off on more than just us huh?"

Stevie nodded his head at Jamie's observation before calling out to the golden figure, "It's ok Sandy, and we'll listen to you!"

Sandy gave a sheepish smile before turning towards the almost completed Nightmare. Furrowing his brows he formed a whip and flicked it into the air, a loud crack echoing across the sky as it snapped. Startled into action the beast bulked and ran into the opposite direction. The chase was now on.

Not waiting for the signal to pursue Sandy was hot on its heels, every time it went to slowdown he gave another threating snap of his whip into the air. He may have had to let the beastie go, but he was not about to give it any slack.

Tooth and North shot into the air to hoover about the beast; thus effectively cutting off its chances for aerial escape. Bunny raced through the trees keeping a slightly larger distance from the others in case it decided to make an evasive maneuver, while the others would be recovering he could see it and alter is course accordingly. All in all it was a rather well developed plan, given that they hadn't actual discussed how they were going to follow the creature back to its master.

Jamie climbing to the front of the sleigh and peered out ahead of him, tiny brown eyes squinting against the darkness of night. By this point they were leaving the town and heading deep into the park.

"Why would it be heading for the park?"

"Where you expecting something different?" Stevie questioned, joining him at the front whilst being carful as to not get into Santa's way.

"I don't know, I just thought it would go into the sewer or even jump into the shadows. Something amazing like that."

"Perhaps it's just trying to shake us and thought this would be the best place to it."

"I don't know, from my view…I think its heading for that." Pointing to some distance ahead of him the boy waited for his friend to locate the object.

"Is that a...bed frame?"

Jamie nodded then looked at his friend, "It is, but I could have sworn Jack said it wasn't here anymore."

"It shouldn't be." North muttered through clenched teeth. Obviously the appearance of said rotting bed post was striking a nerve with the larger man.

"You know what that is?" the boys asked.

"Pitch tends to leave little clues to help find his lair, thought why he fond of rotting bed is beyond me. What is of concern is that he put an entrance so closed to people and Jack's…home."

"North! Do you see what's ahead?" Bunny belted from below.

"Yes, the entrance of Pitches lair is up ahead."

"But North," Tooth called from his right. "That wasn't here last time we came though Burgess! This had to be put up recently."

"Yes, that is part of what has me worried." He responded back.

When the horse suddenly picked up speed the Guardians had to stop talking just to keep up. They knew of its location, but if it was able to shut the entry way before they got there then their plan would go up in smoke.

"Oh No. you. Don't!" Bunny belted out with each hop closer towards the Nightmare. With one more lunge he was off the ground and tackling the beast as it dove for the hole. Both he and the creature tumbled forward and smashed into the rickety bed frame. With a few snaps and pops the bed crumbled beneath them allowing full-unhindered access to the pit below.

Bunny-try as he could- couldn't gain his balance with the added weight in his hold and plummeted down into the darkness. Tooth, without pausing to think zoomed into the whole after them Sandy right behind her.

Noticing his chance of making it while also landing was little to none North handed off the reigns to the children. Normally he would never even think of this, but it was the only option at the moment. "Here take rope and wait here."

"WHAT?!" the boys shouted.

"We are coming too!" Stevie hollered in a slight panic.

"No, it is way too dangerous down there. You to stay and protect sleigh."

"Were not afraid of Pitch, besides what if you need our help? Better yet, what if Pitch comes out here while you're all lost down there?" Jamie retorted this time.

"It is chance we must take, we cannot protect the both of you down there AND look for Jack." Without waiting for them to reply North vaulted over the side of the sleigh aiming for the entrance below him. With years of practice the Jolly man hit his mark perfectly disappearing into the dark world below.

"Well how do you like that, at the first chance they get they shove us aside. I just knew they were going to use that whole 'it's for your own good' excuse sooner or later." Stevie pouted looking over the railing.

"Yeah…but they are probably right where Pitch is concerned. He is after all the one being who single handedly beat them all a while back."

"That and they have dealt with him for much longer than either of can imagine."

A long silence developed between them until Jamie began to laugh nervously.

"Uh…Jamie are you okay?"

"Say Stevie? You wouldn't by chance know how to fly a sleigh?"

"No, do you?"

"Not in the slightest."

Both boys looked each other in the eyes for a long moment, blank expressions etched on their faces. Once the sleigh lurched to one direction they both grabbed a rope and tried to stabilize themselves. With one last look at each other they did the only thing they could think of…

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` The End . . . just kidding. . .

North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy found themselves standing inside a long dark passageway. It smelt like damp soil and moss, but not in a good way. The pressure of it was just as bad as the smell forcing them all to wait there until they adjusted.

"This place feels way too cramped."

"That's saying a lot coming from you Bunny."

"I think it's actually quite spacious in here." North stretched out in different directions to prove his point, "see I don't even touch the sides."

"I'm not talking about just the size yah gumbe! This whole place give off a feeling of tightness, don't you agree?" Turning to Sandy the smaller Guardian nodded enthusiastically before looking around. A small golden horse popped over his head along with a question mark.

"Ah, don't worry about the Nightmare Sandy. It fled from us before we even his the ground." Bunny replied to his crestfallen friend. Silently he made a snapping motion with his fingers before producing a tiny golden ball of sand, similar to that of the one he made back in Stevie's attic.

"Good work Sandy, now let's go find Pitch." North took up the head of the group heading towards an endless darkness tunnel just ahead.

"And how do you know which way to?" Bunny asked skeptically, his eyes taking note of the other tunnels off the passageway.

North gave a half-hearted glance over his shoulder, a sort of twinkle lighting in his eyes. Bunny rolled his own round orbs and shook his head "Let me guess…you feel it in your belly?"

"Must you start that now, this is hardly the place for it." Tooth noted with a hint of annoyance in her voice, Sandy nodding in agreement.

"It was not me it was Bunny." North noted, eyes large with innocence.

"Me, but all I did was ask a question! If anything North is the one at fault!"

"You're both at fault now shush! You're going to gather unwanted attention!" the fairy half yelled.

Everyone stared at her like she started molting, "what?"

"Tooth, that's kind of the idea. We want to confront Pitch."

Tooth blushed slightly at her own silly observation, "hee-hee...oh yeah!"

"Would you all just shut up and get in here already?"

Everyone shuddered slightly at the cool and sinister voice that interrupted their conversation for the untempt time these past few days. Every hall way but the one they were preparing to enter vanished behind a cloud of darkness. There only option left was the path that North was already heading into, the big man would have made a jab at Bunnymand but decided against it. There was a time for joking, and this was no longer one of that time.

Pitch sat impatiently upon his dark and sinister 'throne', he could hear everything those annoying Guardians were saying and frankly it was coming a bother. He had even gone the extra step by opening a path straight through the ever complex tunnels so they would get here faster. Even then they took their annoyingly sweet time in getting there, he had half a mind to eject them from his residence just for aggravating him. He was more tempted to just to see the look of shock on their face when they realize that coming down here was not as 'lucky' as they had thought. What pleasure it would be for them to realize that he could eject them at any moment, and that finding his lair was his desire alone.

As they finally came into view with their weapons drawn he couldn't help but smile in amusement. "Honestly, do you think you have even the slightest chance of beating me here in my own home? Such naivety is something I would expect within Frost…but your four? I must say I am astonished."

"What did you do to Jack?!" Tooth yelled at the grey man, her voice bouncing off the walls in an eerie echoing manner.

"Sigh…still so quick to point fingers and make accusations. What makes you think I have done anything to him? Last I seen he was sitting nice and toasty inside his little cage." He smirked

"Enough of your lies Pitch! We all know you did something to Frost now tell us what you did!"

"Come now Rabbit, when will you ever learn that things aren't that simple?"

"What are you talking about?"

Pitch stood from his chair and placed his hands behind his back, his tall and stoic posture held a smug confidence. "You all are just way to dense to ever understand what Jack truly is."

This caught there attention, but Pitch was nowhere near done talking "Do you not think for a moment that maybe Jack Frost wasn't JUST the 'Guardian of Fun', that perhaps he has always been something different? I mean think about it, even you yourselves had given him a tough time until the Moon told you otherwise."

"Jack has always been the Guardian of Fun, nothing you can say will change that Pitch!" North belted while lifting his swords.

"Oh, really? Bet you that I can." He replied, a sort of airy happiness gracing each word.

"You're pushing it Pitch." Bunny growled deeply.

"I know you all think I am some evil scum who needs to be scrapped off your shoes, but I can assure you that Jack Frost is more evil than even I."

"You've lost it Pitch!" Tooth mumble, shaking her head in disgust.

"On the contrary I am the only one here who actually has it. Think about this for a moment…I may produce fear into the hearts of children and on the odd occasion adult, but my fear always births something so much more. Even if you _Guardians _can't see it, my fear allows people to learn and grow into bravery and stronger beings. Fear prevents people from doing stupid things, while also allowing them to overtake amazing feats!"

"Some fear does help Pitch, but your _fear_ is just some twisted illusion you've concocted it doesn't help anyone."

"No, my fear helps society. It helps the people of this world grow into who and what they need to become! If anything I should be the Guardian here, I should have power."

"Is that what this is all about? You are upset about not being chosen a Guardian and are blaming it all on Jack?" Tooth Gasped in shock.

"It's not that I blame Jack. No…no, I just want Jack to see what he truly is. What he was always truly meant to be in this world. I want him to see what I have seen in him all along."

Sandy made the 'Yeah and what is that?" gesture, obvious doubt and sarcasm spewing from his sands.

"What are you after Pitch?" Tooth demanded, her eyes narrowing in a threatning gaze.

"Yes Pitch, What are you after?" North asked as well.

Pitch chuckled softly before he continued his crackpot theory," You all still don't understand do you? I am giving you all the tiny pieces of the puzzle and you still can't fit it all together."

"All you have done here is elaborate on your sore ego, hardly what I would call information." Tooth quipped.

Pitched ignored her snide remark and continued, "You all insist on turning a blind eye, Jack Frost… his mere touch is death! I am Fear but he is Death! To touch Jack Frost, to merely be in his presence means the end of life! How it is no one can see this I will never know. Songs, and stories though out all history have spoken of the cold icy hands of death. Every culture, every country, every era has the same basic story told."

When the Guardians stared flabbergasted at Pitch he took the moment to change positions. His left hand came out from behind his back, his thumb cleaning under his other nails in a board fashion. "It's cruel actually, the fate of human trapped in on of Jacks storms. In their last few moments, rather than feeling the fear to heat their limbs and strive to survive. Jack will have them have fun, in order to forget the pain. It is after this moment when they realize that there is no more time left to find salvation, where the deepest and darkest fear ever known comes in. It's quite brilliant actually, even boarder line poetic. Oh to think that Jack Frost creates the darkest fear."

His fingers stopped fiddling and tightened into a fist, his eyes flashed a dangerous golden-yellow as he glared cruelly at the Guardians before him, "Can't you see it now? This is why Jack was meant to be on my side, he was supposed to be on MY side! He was never supposed to join you, but oh no. You Guardians with all of your dreams and wonders and hopes and memories, though that maybe just maybe he could be one like you. However deep down you all know as well as I that he could never EVER be like you! He is to much like me."

"NO you're wrong Pitch! There is NO WAY that Jack could ever be like you! He saves and protects the children of this world!"

"Oh yes, but saves them from what I wonder? Fear? Possible, fear and fun can be coincided in small amounts, but for how long? One way or another fear eventually wins in the end don't you think? After failing to protect so many children in the depths of winter, to call him a guardian to me is an insult."

"That isn't true! There are loads of times when Jack has saved people from such a fate! William Johnson just one of the many perfect examples! So you can such you just bite down on your twisted silver tongue right now!" Tooth again spoke up where the others were silence, much to her annoyance and confusion.

"A coincidence I assure you, but let me be very clear with you. Jack Frost was NEVER meant to be a Guardian, he was meant to be against you. So when you ask 'what did I do to him?' I can say with utmost confidence that I did nothing but help show him what has always been there. I am sure that right now he is seeing things clearly for the first time."

"What. Did. You. Do?" Bunny finally spoke up, his voice daring him to speak. There was an unknown edge never heard from him before. Tooth had to visible shy away from her furry friend after hearing his voice.

Pitch look a little taken back at his voice, there was an underlining threat…no a promise that he would make him suffer. That the Nightmare King should choose his words VERY carefully before opening his mouth again. What shocked him more was that even though he had the home field advantage, he was still feeling a tinge of doubt. That he wouldn't win against this angry Pooka if he would attack at this moment.

Stealing himself he fixed a sneer on his face and braced for the worst as he decided to regal the group of what was most likely happening to their youngest treasured snowflake. For once they hear this, they are most assuredly going to attack him.

Jack stared down at the small child before him, shock radiating off him in waves. His whole body quivered and shook with a mighty force, he couldn't believe what he had just done. It wasn't supposed to happen, he didn't even try to do this…it just sort of happened. What's worse, is now that it did happen that strange sensation was practically begging to be let free.

"No….No I Didn't…I just…" his words failed to form coherent words or phrases any longer.

"Misty darling where are you?" the concerned voice of the girl's father drifting over the crowd. Jack looked over to the now panicking man as he failed to hear the response from his daughter.

"Mist? Honey answer daddy!" he shouted, anxiety building as he began to push and pull his way through the confused onlookers. Various people began to gaze out along with the father in order to help find his missing kid.

Frantic and confused the man started to shake and grab people who were nearest him, "Don't just stand there help me find my daughter!"

One women, who stood not from Jack and said girl began to fidget. Slender arms pulling desperately at her coat for warmth. Confused the woman looked around her only to spot something she was not expecting. The sight before her was so out of her parameter of understanding that she screamed. Not a shrill high pitch scream found in startled person, but a true deep healthy terrified scream.

Her voice caught not only Jacks attention-effectively pulling him out of his stupor-but the attention of everyone else in the vicinity. Stumbling backward the women fell to her bottom and even then continued to back away further.

At first the people on the platform looked at the shrieking woman like she lost her mind; that was until their eyes followed her line of sight, landing on the source of her distress. Gasps and shouts emptied out into the air, what they seen could only be described as this.

A small, young, girl-most likely to be the man's missing daughter- stood completely frozen from head to toe, but that was not all. Small arms were up and around a figures torso in what looked to be a loving embrace, what she embraced didn't look so loving at all.

His entire presence held a sort of haunting, creepy vibe of pure and total oblivion. Deep Blue-Black hair draped across eyes that looked to hold not a hint of warmth at all. No one could see the internal struggle or the shaking of limbs, all they seen was a stone solid entity. Deep blue skin accompanied with an unwelcoming posture made approaching this stranger impossible. A black staff was gripped tightly in his right hand, while his left remained positioned upon the little girls head. All in all it was like looking into the eyes of a grim reaper, with one wrong step they too would become frozen like she was.

Stealing himself the girl's father moved ever so closer to the being that held his precious daughter, "What did you do?!" he demand.

At first Jack was shocked, they were all looking right at him, and this man was actually talking to him. Him Jack Frost being confronted by a group of people as if he was one of them!

"Excuse me?" he responded, his voice sounded darker than he intended.

"What did you do to my Daughter?!" the man shouted. Glancing at the kid a fire of rage began to boil in his eyes, "Giver her back…give her back to me you demon!"

In all honesty Jack was shocked frightened and heartbroken that this had happened to the child without his conscious doing. In fact he was fully intended on unfreezing her and setting things right, but as that annoyingly loud grownup started to yell, his mind quickly began to reconsider.

"Why?"

Bulking at the simple and innocent question the father fell silent, but it lasted only a minute. "Why? WHY?! She's my daughter! That's why, who the hell are you anyway!?"

What? Jack couldn't believe it. Was this guy for real? The man had to have some crazed up belief or understanding about who he was in order to see him right? So why ask such a question? In fact why was this guy yelling at him in the first place? Jack wanted to run over and shake the man, to have him explain what was going on. However a strange question leaked from his mouth instead.

"Why must you insist on yelling?"

Rage flew off the man like an explosion, "Shut UP! I'm not going to ask you again! Give her back NOW!" With this final blow up the man began to advance. Shocking even more was the crowed of people were doing the same.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Jack's last internal struggle took place. He wanted to free the girl and apologize. So desperately did he want to return to his friends and fellow Guardian, but upon seeing the advancing part of mortal man something happened. 'Fine, so that's how it's going to be? Rejected after all of this time, even after I saved them all?!' an inner-and much darker- voice resounded within his mind.

Thoughts of joy and happiness faded into rage, pain and sadness. Light became dark, caring became hateful, and hope became despair. 'If they can't accept me as Jack...then they'll fear me as Frost'

"You DARE to think that you can tell me what to do?" he asked the crowed barely above a whisper. Although quite it seemed to have gotten the desired effect. Everyone stumble to a halt as the being lifted his staff over his head.

Everyone scattered as a blast of dark ice zinged through the air and collided with the father. Ice so cold that it burned spread across the man's chest enveloping him until only his head was left uncovered. Jack easily removed himself from the grip of the statue of a girl without causing her damage, as if gliding Jack appeared in front of the man.

Fixing, him with a cold glaze Jack's eyes flashed a bright menacing blue for a moment. "I've had just about enough of everyone looking down their noses at me." He whispered again.

Frantically trying to escape the man hollered for assistance only to see that all of the people had fled quite a distance away. Jacks scowled deeply and pushed back in his mind the only remaining light there was, without the child there to stop him darkness took over.

Tapping the man's forehead with his index figure the ice continued forward finishing the job it originally intended to do. Looking up from his latest work Jacks eyes searched the area to see the area empty. No one remained to fill his wrath, everyone had fled to safety when he was preoccupied.

Anger not satisfied Jack launched himself into the air, he was just itching for a fight…and he knew just who to find one from.

What Jack was unaware of was that once he had left, the figures inside the ice (one child and one adult) began to shift and churn. Solid vibrant bodies liquefied into the dark dusty pile of nightmare sand. With relative ease the sands poured out through tiny hairline cracks in the ice and pooled onto the ground. Shimmering in victory the sands formed two small Nightmares.

Their plan had succeeded, their masters will had been done. They had made Jack believe that he was responsible for two 'human' casualties, thus effectively sealing off the remainder of light and hope inside him.


	30. Chapter 30

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author Note's~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I hope you guys like actions scenes because we are about to have a showdown! In this corner we have …..oops can't spill the beans just yet! That is what the story is for. I know you are all ready to pulverize me for taking so long, but I hope the next few lengthy chapters I am posting will make up for it. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Its times like these I wish I could clone myself, that way I could get so much more done.

Quick replies-(oh for those of you who want to know how I came up with Jack's death title, read reply to pearlsofwisdom)

Crimson Dragon Devil: I know poor Jack is put through a lot, but he is sure to become stronger for it! At least that is my hope anyway. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! XD

Kyuubecky: I know right?! I was like 'ooooo' I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley….or any alley for that fact. My inner voice was like, "Bring Jack back! He has had enough!" Oh, well I can't have a snow cone and eat it to. (Poor winter humor: P)

The-Unnamed-Artist: I am unsure if that wow is of the positive or in the 'head hung down shaking in disbelief' kind of way. Either way I accept it none the less. Thanks *Takes a bow.

Sora Tayuya: HAHAHA! I was like AW man why didn't I think of saying that. Yes, it is true No Humans were harmed in the making of the last chapter. Though a few were scared out of their minds…but we over look that.

Pearlsofwisdom: Thank you, to be honest the inspiration for that came from talking with my dad. (Just here me out) We were watching the movie again and when Jamie hugged Jack in the end my dad was all like, "He touched Jack Frost? Doesn't he know to touch him means Death?" I was intrigued. After a wonderful conversation about Jack Frost I went, 'hey this should totally be the case in my story!" So Kudos to my father! As for if there was a spirit of death before I really don't know. I agree that if there was one he would be indifferent. I kind of imagine the spirit of death being more of an 'I just don't care' kind of attitude rather than a "whoopee!" Or a "GRRR." Know what I mean?

Blackkyu: Pitch is very tactically, I least that's what I always thought. He would have to be, it's him against the world. At least that's how he always chooses to make it.

Now that I have responded to those lovely reviews I am going to get on with this next chapter.

Warning: battle and possible mild swearing! Disclaimer: I don't own RoTG Just Stevie and is his Family (who tend to be mentioned but not seen…yet?)

Chapter 30: And so it begins

All of the Guardians stood there shell shocked, their minds desperately trying to make since of what Pitch was saying. None of them wanted to believe that the Boogieman would do something this outrageous. Deep inside they had thought that he was only doing evil things to gain attention; like it was a phase that would come and go every once in a while. In truth it is why they never took it upon themselves to physically lash out at him before. Everyone needs attention every now and then, the Boogieman was no exception to the rule. Though they don't really have any particularly warm feelings for the man, they still held him up to a certain standard of descents.

Not long ago he did go a little over board with his antics by messing with their jobs/holidays. At first they were going to just fix what he messed with, give him some well-earned witty banter and then send him on his way. That changed when he sent Sandy to the realm of forever sleep; which according to Sandy's that was where he was. He was never really gone, just in a dream filled limbo.

That incident caused their opinion of Pitch to drastically change, and not for the better. Yet even after all was said and done they still held a bit of sadness in their hearts for the grey man. It was horrible the way Pitch was sent back to his realm, even if he did deserve it that time. They were even willing to forgive his misdeeds and go about their lives once again.

However this was no longer the case, Pitch had finally crossed the line. Messing with holidays, jobs, and even decommissioning one of them was one thing, but messing with Jack was something else entirely. Jack was not only the youngest spirit, but the child of their oddly created family. Pitch attacking, hurting, and caging Jack made them angry. Forcibly breaking his child's center-his soul- everything that made him who he was made them all furious.

Pitch may have been lonely and forgiven at one time, but this was something they could never forgive. If Pitch Black really did break Jack Frost, then they would be sure to return the favor.

"You best be prepared, for if Jack really did break because of you and your nightmares I can assure you I won't hold back." Bunny growled darkly at the man before him.

"I could care less if you hold back or not Rabbit, for you see the truth is Jack Frost has already cracked. You want to know how I am privy to this knowledge." Pitch smirked triumphantly. Not waiting for a response he continued. "Because right now I am feeding off the fear Jack has created, it's so sweet that I'm getting a little buzz I think. Who knew, happy go lucky Jack can make can make such a delicious amount of fear?"

"Why you…" Bunny drew his boomerangs and chucked them as hard as he could at Pitch, who rather easily dodged them. Hopping forward he angled his body at the man and aimed for a powerful kick. If hit Pitch would have sustained a lot of damage, unluckily the blow never landed. Just before the rabbit made contact he melted into the shadows, causing Bunnymund to vanish into a dark passageway.

Not waiting to be told, the other guardians lunged into action.

Sandy pulled out his whips from thin air, rushing forward at an incredible speed he let loose his golden dust. Glittering against the dark the sands began lashing out to any mare that dared get to close. Flicking his wrist quickly the whip rushed forward and snapped dangerously close to the Nightmare kings head. Said man quickly ducked, but was not able to gloat.

North had advanced at a startling pace, both swords were drawn and posed to attack. Pitch summoned forth a scythe like blade just in time to encounter his rival. Much to the Kings surprise North only attacked with one sword, pushing all his weight into the attack. Pitch held his ground against the pressure but faltered as the gleam from the second blade caught his eye. Going on instinct he pushed backwards just in time to miss the blade aimed for his head, a few black hairs drifted off from the head from being caught by swing.

Pitch's eyes narrowed as the strands fell to the floor, it was very clear that the Guardian were not playing around this time.

Tooth, catching Pitch's distraction swooped in from behind. Twirling quickly to gain more momentum she used her wings to slice at his back. Pitch-upon hearing the attack-jumped left to avoid major damage, her wing barely grazed his side cutting only his cloths. Snarling he summoned his mares after the Fairy who gladly took up his command.

North and Sandy charged again from either side, Pitch turned to run but came face to face with Bunny. With a large furry foot he kicked Pitch back towards the others like a goalie returning the ball to play.

As they descended upon him Pitch once again vanished into the shadows, his heart racing with adrenalin. Being angry that he did this to Jack was inevitable, he just didn't think the Guardians would fly off the wall as they did.

"Do you all think you can really beat me in my own lair?" he spat.

Not bothering to respond in any form or fashion Sandy floated to the center of the room. Concentrating intently he built up the power inside him, all the while his body began to steadily glow brighter. Once he gained enough energy he practically exploded. Golden sands shot out across the room embedding themselves into every nook and cranny.

"What are you DOING?!" Pitch yelled furiously as he rushed from the darkness towards the little man.

"What does it look like?" Bunny yelled as he flung egg bombs into Pitches face. "We are kicking your ass!" After yelling his proclamation Bunny dove in for another attack, but Pitch was slightly faster.

"You are deluding yourself rabbit!" he bellowed as he swiped down onto his foe.

Bunny dropped to his knees and slid underneath the swing, distracted once again Tooth reappeared and slashed the sand weapon free from his hands.

Leaning over Pitch held his hand close to his chest, an evil glare making its way into his eyes. Sandy floated down closer to Pitch and started slashing at him rapidly. In long fluid motions Pitch was able to avoid every swing, but only just barely.

North charged in from the back as Tooth and Bunny rushed in from the other sides. Noticing his dwindling escape roots Pitch summoned forth his Sands, gathering them together for on large attack. Undaunted by the mass of Nightmare sand the Guardians continued their onslaught.

Darkness and light intertwined in an epic dance of wills. Nightmares were attacked the Guardians from all around, as Pitch attacked them from the center. No one would yield, no one would surrender; this was no longer a battle that either side could lose.

Words no longer filled the air as grunts and bellows of battle cries ripped from the mouths of everyone. Raising their weapons, hooves, wings, and fists they rushed at one another to strike when…

~KABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!~

Taking away all thought everyone froze as the ground shook, a loud thunderous booming echoed throughout the lair.

"Crinkey, what the…" Bunny fell to all fours to steady his trembling legs.

"What's going on!?" Tooth asked she clung to Sandy. Although they were not touching the ground, they could still feel the reverberations within their chest.

"Pitch what is this, what are you doing?" North Demanded, his blades stuck deep into the ground to prevent him from falling over.

Pitch clung to a Nightmare who ran to his aid, both he and the horse looked about the cavern with curiosity. "What could possibly possess you to think that I am doing this?" the man snarled a reply.

"Well it's your lair, perhaps this is some sort of distraction so you can slip away!" Bunny heatedly argued.

"Are you really that stupid rabbit? If I could have done this I would have done so long ago." Pitch retorted.

Bunny scrambled closer to North, once reached he used the man as a leverage to get back to his feet. "I wouldn't put anything past you Pitch."

"Ugh, why do I even bother?" Pitch mumbled in disgust.

Finally the rumbling ceased and the earth stood still, everyone remained stationary. Just when they thought it was over something rather unexpected happened.

Ice colder than the artic glaciers began crawling along the walls from the darkness, its chill filled the entire place almost instantly. Everyone gazed wide eyed as the frozen water bean to cover everything in its path.

"All of this ice…could it be?" Tooth asked fluttering closer to the wall.

Bunny noticed the ice slow to a halt as Tooth neared it, on pure instinct he rushed forward and yanked her back. At first she opened her mouth to protest, but immediately shut it as the ice sprang out in their direction, sharp pointy tips sitting right where they had just been.

"Why…" she gasped in shock.

"Pit….et….her..ow" A soft echoed reached its way to where they all where.

"Did you hear that?" North whispered pulling his swords from the ground to join his friends.

Sandy nodded and drifted closer, his eye however never left Pitch for too long.

"Pitc….get…ou..ere…ow" the voice spoke again, this time a little clear but still unrecognizable.

"I am getting tired of all these interruptions." Pitch growled as he mounted his horse. Tapping the stallion in the ribs he urged the creature forward but froze as the Voice rang through crystal clear this time.

"PITCH GET OUT HERE NOW!" Jacks voice erupted from the darkness. Ice and freezing winds shot through the darkness as if to emphasize his demand.

Pitch nearly fell off his horse from the pure ferocity of the Winter Spirits voice, all the Guardians stared wide eyed into the darkness. Such a tone of voice seemed so wrong when coming from the lighthearted and fun loving spirit they all knew and loved.

Pitch steadied himself once again and roared out his own voice, "How dare you order me around you little brat!"

Taking off the Nightmare galloped past the shell-shocked guardians-effectively breaking them out of their stupor- towards the exit.

"Come on we must follow him!" North commanded.

Everyone jumped to their feet and raced after Pitch, his nightmare, and possible Jack Frost.

Jamie and Stevie climbed out of the now downed sleigh, giggles erupting from their mouths as the adrenaline finally started to wear off.

"Remind me to ask Santa for flying lessons." Stevie huffed as he placed a hand over his chest.

"No kidding, I thought I was goner there. Who knew controlling a magical flying sleigh pulled by gigantic wild reindeer would be so hard."

Stevie looked at a Jamie with a skeptical look, "Really?"

"What? I said who knew?"

Stevie rolled his eyes and smiled fondly, "You are something else."

"Yeah, well I try. So what do you think they are doing right now?" Jamie slowly walked back to where they had last seen the guardian go. Thanks to the little mishap with the sleigh, they somehow managed to land much farther from where they had intended.

"I don't know, I'd say talking to Pitch."

"I'm not so sure talking would be the right term to use, did you see that look they all had?"

"They had a look? All I seen was determination." Stevie scrunched his eyebrows as he thought back.

"No, in their eyes. They all looked like they wanted to give Pitch a good wallop, especially Bunny."

"Well yeah, this is Pitch we are talking about."

Jamie suddenly stopped walking, "Stevie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure go ahead."

"What…What if the Guardians can't fix Jack?"

"Whoa, hang on now! That doesn't sound like you at all, you're usually the optimistic one out of everyone. Where is this coming from?"

"Stevie, I don't mean Jack is beyond helping. I believe he can be fixed, but…"

"But?"

"Can the Guardians fix him?"

"Okay you lost me."

"Well, what if there is no way for the other Guardians to fix Jack?"

Stevie lightly punched Jamie's arm and scowled, "Will you stop saying that and just tell me what you're thinking?"

"Listen, Jack was caged by Pitch right?" Stevie nodded so Jamie continued, "They tried everything they could but couldn't get him out, in fact the only reason he was freed was because you stepped in to use Pitch's key."

"Go on."

"What if, now this is just what I think…the Guardians are all on edge because they are afraid that they can't set Jack free? I mean, if they couldn't do it once then it could happen again."

"They could unknowingly be helping Pitch!" Stevie shouted in understanding. "If they are afraid of failing, then Pitch will get stronger thus making Jacks condition worse!"

"Now you're catching on."

"Though, I thought they were angry not afraid."

"Maybe, again this was just a theory I could be way off."

Stevie crossed his arms, scrunching his eyebrows in deep thought. With a new fire burning in his eyes Stevie's head shot up. "Well then, if that is the case then why don't we do some plan making of our own?"

Jamie smiled back at his friend, "Ooh, I bet you already have an idea huh?"

"Not really, but I am sure that we will think of something. After all, what kind of believers would we be if we sat back and watched our hero's fall?"

As if on cue a high pitched whistle resounded in the air, almost as if a jet plan was coming in for a landing way too fast.

Jamie and Stevie's head shot up in search of the sound, their eyes catching a glimmer of something luminously shinning in the sky.

"Do you see that?" Jamie questioned. Stevie merely nodded. As the strange projectile came rapidly closer to the earth the boys immediately began to search for a hiding spot.

Figuring that the safest spot was the sleigh they both hopped inside and ducked for cover. Not a minuet after did the projectile slam into the ground. A shockwave shook the earth and rattled the sleigh violently. Each boy had to hold on to the sleigh for dear life else they be tossed out like cheap rag dolls. A loud echo of the aftermath still ringing out into the air.

"Wha-a-a-at's ha-a-a-pan-iiing?" Jamie shouted praying he didn't bite his tongue as he spoke.

"I don-n-t kno-w-w-w-w-." Stevie responded in kind.

When all had finally called the boys shakeingly released their hold, but neither one dared to move. "Should we…you know, check it out?" Jamie whispered to his friend.

"Sure…uh…you can go first. I will be right behind you?"

"Why does that sound like a question, and why do I have to go first?" Jamie whisper yelled back.

"Pitch Get Out Here Now!" A voice boomed over their own.

Each child froze in panic, of all the voices they had expected to hear shouting just then, that was not one of them.

Mustering up his courage Jamie crawled up the side of the sleigh and peered over it. When he stopped moving Stevie gulped down his own fear and did the same.

There in the center of a small crater, a frosty like steam lifting off his form stood Jack in all his dark sided glory. Anger, confusion, and an emotion unknown to the two boys wafted off the Winter Spirit in waves. It was the first time that either of them had ever seen Jack look this…evil. It was just not right.

"Stevie, is that Jack?"

"…yeah." He whispered, shame and guilt evident.

Jamie stole a glance at the boy before returning his gaze back Jack.

"Pitch Get Out Here Now!" the yelled again, his hands tightening around the sand staff as ice creped along the ground.

"I don't like this, we have to do something." Jamie whispered gripping the sides of the banister with worry.

"Like what?!"

"I don't know something, anything!"

Jack suddenly raised his staff wielding arm and slammed it forcibly onto the ground, winter magic spread under and across the ground with wicked speed. "PITCH GET OUR HERE NOW!" he bellowed angrily.

Jamie and Stevie gulped and slid back down in the sleigh, their little frames shaking slightly.

"This is not good." Jamie whispered.

Stevie nodded in agreement, "You could say that again."


End file.
